Millions Of Drivers Had Their Speeding And Late-Night Trips Logged By Their Own Cars

There are reports of AI traffic cameras watching you and your car, but now even cars are being used to track how you drive. From when and how hard you brake and accelerate to showing your geolocation data, car companies have been found to track, collect, and also sell that data. All of which has led to increases in insurance bills and a lot of angry drivers.

General Motors was found out to be secretly tracking, collecting, and selling details about driving patterns, behavior, and location. This was all done through the OnStar platform, a service that provides 24/7 support, music, and navigation. The service's fine print detailed vehicles would be used to collect data such as daily driving habits and more. That information was sold and ended up going to insurance companies who used that knowledge to evidently raise prices for its drivers. GM was taken to court where the U.S. government banned GM from sharing those details with insurers.

There have been multiple reports of this happening to drivers. Many of which filed complaints with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as they felt they were being spied on. Alongside the court hearing, several other agencies filed complaints with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filing a lawsuit against GM.

There were around 30 class action suits brought together and put into a full 627-page lawsuit against GM. There were multiple automakers underneath GM who were listed in the report with a total of four well-known brands including Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, and Cadillac. Anyone who owned a vehicle produced by one of the companies since 2016 and onward could have been included in the OnStar Smart Driver program where data was found to be sold.

In one instance, a family in Michigan bought a brand new 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV. After buying the car, the owner realized a salesperson enrolled him into a free OnStar subscription, therefore enabling the car to be used as part of the data collection. The owner was not made aware that the details of the program included data collection. He discovered his data was sold to LexisNexis where he requested documents which showed details including when the vehicle braked hard or accelerated too quickly.

It's a similar story to how Flock cameras track license plates. In the case with GM, the FTC decided to ban GM and OnStar from sharing geolocation and driving habits with other agencies for up to five years. Now, the company is required to get consent before collecting vehicle data and sharing it for the next 20 years. GM is also required to delete any previous collected data and grant consumers access to those details if requested.

GM and OnStar are no longer allowed to collect, track, and sell consumer data unless an owner enables it. However, that doesn't mean your data is necessarily safe from being collected and sold to other agencies. If you feel your data has been shared without your knowledge or consent, you can contact a data broker such as the one previously mentioned LexisNexis to request a consumer disclosure report.

It's always a good idea to read any fine print or details of an agreement or terms of use to see if whatever you are signing up for will collect your data. In the GM lawsuit, the company may no longer be allowed to collect and sell data to outside agencies, but is allowed to provide location details to emergency crews such as police, firefighters, and EMTs. The company can also use the data for any research done internally.

GM is required to find a way for any U.S. consumer to request a copy of their data. This was set up to provide owners with a way to delete and even disable the data collection which could include vehicle geolocation. It's a frustrating situation for sure and if you are worried about your data being collected in general, there is a trick to see what websites are selling your data.