An investigation by consumer advocacy group Choice found most of Australia’s popular car brands collect and share “driver data”, ranging from braking patterns to video footage.
Kia and Hyundai collect voice recognition data from inside their cars and sell it to an artificial intelligence software training company.
Privacy and consumer rights advocates are pushing for law reform to limit data collection to what is “fair and reasonable”.
TBH, I’m more concerned about what Android Auto is sending back …
For anyone using that, I’ve been trying out Magic Earth as an alternative to Google Maps, and it’s done a pretty good job so far in Sydney…
I use Magic Earth as well. Closed source, but a better privacy policy than Google and it is easier to use than OsmAnd.
Scuttlebutt is that some Luxury and Prestige Manufacturers refused to support Android Auto initially because Google was demanding not only customer data but also vehicle telemetry and performance data. CarPlay was supported though.
The rumoured manufacturers all support Android Auto now so maybe Google changed their contracts.
What’s the concern RE: Android Auto? I really love the feature where it re-routes you mid-drive because it detects heavy traffic up ahead. I can’t exactly complain that Google knows how fast I’m (not) going if I want the benefits of that intel for myself. That’s the Steve Jobs argument (‘Give us traffic data, but don’t collect location data from iPhone users’).
It’s probably not so much Android Auto, more just Android/Google.
The talk about recording video and audio, well a phone does that too. And isn’t “Hey Google” always listening?