While tech-infused cars have been lauded for their innovation and their ability to make many drivers’ lives easier, there is a downside to having a car that can connect to the Internet. For example, it can record your driving habits and send them off to people you had no idea would get them.
That’s just what General Motors did, the Federal Trade Commission said in a new order, but the automaker's days of operating as “Big Brother” watching over millions of drivers are over.
The investigation. GM’s practice of tracking its drivers’ geolocation and behavioral data—including how long they had spent driving and whether they had engaged in hard braking, late night driving, or speeding—was brought to light by a New York Times investigation in 2024.
The Times found that drivers activated the tracking of their data when they signed up for GM’s connected driving service called OnStar and turned on a feature called Smart Driver. The company described Smart Driver as a feature that would “provide valuable insights on their driving habits” and help improve them.
However, the data didn’t only remain with drivers. GM proceeded to sell drivers’ data to insurance companies and data brokers, such as LexisNexus, which then created risk profiles to sell to insurance companies. As a result, some customers saw an increase in the rates they were paying.
A "misleading" process. Many customers didn’t even know that GM was collecting this data. According to the FTC, when customers bought a GM vehicle, they were encouraged to sign up for OnStar and Smart Driver.
“It felt like a betrayal,” Kenn Dahl, a Chevy Bolt driver who works in software, told the Times in 2024. “They’re taking information that I didn’t realize was going to be shared and screwing with our insurance.”
The FTC agreed with Dahl, stating in its order that GM’s enrollment process for OnStar and Smart Driver was confusing and misleading. Some GM owners didn’t even know they had signed up for OnStar.
A five-year ban. In its order, the FTC banned GM from sharing driver geolocation and behavioral data with reporting agencies for five years. The agency also explicitly stated that the automaker would have to obtain “affirmative express consent” from customers before collecting connected vehicle data.
“GM monitored and sold people’s precise geolocation data and driver behavior information, sometimes as often as every three seconds,” FTC chair Lina Khan said in a statement. “With this action, the FTC is safeguarding Americans’ privacy and protecting people from unchecked surveillance.”
Furthermore, GM will be required to offer consumers a way to obtain a copy of their driving data and request its deletion, as well as offer them a way to disable the data collection and opt-out of it.
GM’s reaction. In a statement on Thursday, GM sought to reassure customers that they had nothing to worry about, though only time will tell. The company said it had discontinued Smart Driver “due to customer feedback” and ended its relationships with the data brokers LexisNexis and Verisk.
“We’re more committed than ever to making our policies and controls clear and accessible as we continue to evolve the driving experience for our customers,” GM said.
Image | Steve Rainwater
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