The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report on vehicle data privacy to the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Research and Technology, under the Committee on Science, Space and Technology. The report was originally submitted in July 2017.
In the report, it examines the types, use, and sharing of data collected by connected vehicles. It also determined the extent to which selected automakers’ privacy polices for data align with leading practices. The report continues to evaluate the federal roles and efforts within the issue.
The report determined that most automakers that offer manufacturer connected vehicles comply with most of the key privacy principles. The GAO also concluded, however, that the Department of Transportation – specifically the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) – needs to “define, document and externally communicate its roles and responsibilities related to the privacy of data generated by, and collected from, vehicles.” NHTSA concurred with the report’s recommendation.
The research was complied through interviews with industry associations, consumer privacy organizations, and a sample of 16 automakers that were selected based on their U.S. passenger vehicle sales. The GAO also compared selected automakers’ privacy policies to a set of leading privacy practices relevant to connected vehicles.
To read the full text of the report, click here.
