GM cuts ties with some third-party data brokers after NYT report
Two weeks ago, the New York Times reported on automakers sharing privately-owned vehicle driving data with third-party data firms. The short story is that today's connected cars send heaps of information back to their respective automakers, which automakers can use to improve services and then profit by those services, or just to profit. In the former category, Ford used telematics data from more than 2.5 million trips that E-Transits made to help develop the updated 2024 E-Transit. In the latter category, per the NYT report, GM, Kia, Mitsubishi, and Subaru transfer their customers' driving data with the LexisNexis Telematics Exchange, a «portal for sharing consumer-approved connected car data with insurers,» while the aforementioned Ford, as well as Honda and Hyundai, sell their data to Verisk to be put to similar use (automakers can sell to both third-party companies or more, the NYT didn't lay out all of the relationships). The problem with the «consumer-approved» bit, according to the NYT, is that many if not most consumers have no idea they're approving such use because explanations are buried in an End User License Agreement that no one reads, or else the chain-of-use and the potential effects aren't made clear.
