"Modern cars know everything about their drivers," says Volker Ludemann, scientific director of the Center for Data Protection at the University of Osnabrück.
Up to 150 sensors are installed in modern cars. They record driving behavior, seat occupancy, acceleration, know the driver's musical taste, recognize driving mistakes and determine the location of the vehicle.
With this treasure trove of data, manufacturers have a wealth of knowledge about drivers and vehicles. Did the car thus become a spy, asks the German public service ARD in a major investigation.
What happens to the data?
Some data has been used for years to read errors in mechanic workshops. In some cases, their collection is required by law – for example, to monitor emissions by recording how much fuel a vehicle consumes.
From the summer of 2022, newly registered cars must also be equipped with devices for memorizing data about accidents.
"Individual observations may be harmless, but if the data is aggregated, combined and evaluated, it can lead to serious privacy violations," explains Ludeman.
For example, seat occupancy data that the car "knows" to warn you to fasten your seatbelt if the seat is occupied. What about when it is combined about driving destination data?
"If the weight on the seat increases continuously over a nine-month period and frequent visits to the specialist baby shop are made, then anyone who has access to this data knows that these drivers and their families are facing major changes in their life situation," he says. Ludeman.
Whoever has the data does the work
Drivers usually don't know who has which of their data and what happens to it. "Most of it is stored on the manufacturer's servers," explains Ludeman. "And they decide who gets the data."
For now, only car manufacturers can access and use this data. And they do.
Because whoever has access to data, does excellent business with it. According to Ludeman, it's not just about passenger data. The emergency call in the EU, the so-called E-Call, automatically makes an emergency call when the airbag in the car is deployed.
"If the vehicles are connected to the E-Call system, the emergency call does not go to the emergency services number 110 or 112, but to the manufacturer's number. And then they decide which towing service will be hired and which workshop receives the repair order," says the expert.
Billions on the ignorance of customers
The possibilities are so many that they whet the appetite. There is a battle between car manufacturers, emergency services, software companies, garages, hospitals and insurance companies.
They recognized what experts prove with numbers: money can be made on the ignorance of customers.
According to consulting firm McKinsey, the networking of vehicles and the use of data from cars have great economic potential. Manufacturers, suppliers and service providers could expect about 2030 billion dollars a year by 95, when 400 percent of all vehicles will be networked.
Who actually owns the data?
Our everyday life is increasingly networked - plush toys, toasters and refrigerators are "smart". But who owns the data?
Consumers typically assume that they have rights to the data they generate, including data from cars. "In reality, the rights to who owns what are unclear," says Ludeman.
The data still belongs to the manufacturers. But the new law allows users to determine for the first time whether and to what extent third parties have access to their data - and for what purpose.
The data law in the EU, which is due to enter into force in 2025, will regulate when companies and private individuals can receive and share information from networked devices. At the same time, illegal data transfer should be prevented. "In a sense, this is a regulation that makes sense," Ludeman explains.
But many companies are hesitant to strengthen data protection, says Mihael Hajze, chief economist at HQ Trust. He believes that consumers would have to pay a lot more if they don't also pay for data. "At the moment, we are a little too restrictive," he believes.
Criticisms of consumer protection and ADAC
German automakers such as BMW point to compliance with legal regulations and that customers can adjust their privacy settings themselves.
But that's not enough for ADAC, the largest association of drivers in Europe. The association demands that drivers must know what data from their car is collected, stored and evaluated, that they must be able to turn off the processing and forwarding of data and decide for themselves who has access to data about their vehicle.
And the planned law does not go far enough for consumer protection either. They want clearer regulation at the EU level.
Digitalization expert Roland Fige sees companies also using data to improve services and products. But: "By voluntarily giving up data, we are essentially paying with data and gradually losing sovereignty over our own data."
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