Your car insurance provider apparently knows much more about you than you might think — and it’s using that information to inform your rates. According to a new report from the New York Times, new cars with internet-enabled features are tracking your driving habits, and that data is being shared with data brokers who then sell the information to car insurance companies.
This is all done regardless of the driver’s involvement. These days, when you buy a car, you often have the option to lower your insurance rates by downloading an app and letting your car track things like how harshly you brake and how you take corners. However, data collection happens regardless of whether you opt in to those features or not.
The report notes that major carmakers, like General Motors, Ford, Kia, and Suburu, share data with brokers, like LexisNexis and Verisk, who then analyze it and pass it on to insurance companies. The insurance companies then use it to determine a “risk score” for a driver — which then factors into the rates that insurance companies charge drivers.
The news isn’t all that surprising, though it is disappointing. Last year, a report from Mozilla noted that cars are the “worst product category” Mozilla has ever reviewed for privacy. In fact, according to the report, cars are tracking not only driving habits and location, but also metrics like biological characteristics, sexual orientation, sex life, genetic data, and more. All carmakers are guilty of this, too — with Tesla being among the worst offenders.
Thankfully, there does seem to be some traction toward regulating the kinds of data that carmakers can collect. U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-Massachusetts) recently wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) arguing that there aren’t enough limitations on carmaker data collection.
“I write to urge the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the data privacy practices of auto manufacturers,” said Markey in the letter. “With new advances in vehicle technology and services, automakers have been vacuuming up huge amounts of data on drivers, passengers, and even individuals outside the vehicle. Based on public reporting and responses to my own inquiries into these practices, automakers face few, if any, limitations on the collection, use, and disclosure of this data. Consumers are often left in the dark.”
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?
Update (October 22 23:54 PT): In response to our query, GM clarified that offline recording support is already available on eligible vehicles. Like Tesla's Sentry Mode, it requires owners to connect a USB drive to save incident recordings, which can be viewed on the vehicle's infotainment screen. The upcoming Connected Cameras feature will build on this by giving owners remote access to these recordings via the revamped OnStar app, allowing them to check footage without walking out to their car.
General Motors has announced plans to add a new Connected Cameras feature to its OnStar service starting next year, giving drivers a way to monitor parked vehicles remotely and capture footage of certain incidents.