Connected Cars: Privacy, Security Issues Related to Connected, Automated Vehicles

The Federal Trade Commission and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) held a workshop on June 28, two thousand seventeen in Washington, D.C., to examine the consumer privacy and security issues posed by automated and connected motor vehicles.

The workshop featured opening remarks by Acting FTC Chairman Maureen K. Ohlhausen and brought together a multiplicity of stakeholders, including industry representatives, consumer advocates, academics, and government regulators, to discuss various issues related to connected and automated vehicles that collect data. They include:

• the types of data vehicles with wireless interfaces collect, store, transmit, and share;
• potential benefits and challenges posed by such data collection;
• the privacy and security practices of vehicle manufacturers;
• the role of the FTC, NHTSA, and other government agencies regarding privacy and security issues related to connected vehicles; and
• self-regulatory standards that might apply to privacy and security issues related to connected vehicles.

Modern motor vehicles increasingly are being tooled with technologies that enable them to access information via the Internet and gather, store and transmit data for entertainment, spectacle and safety purposes. Automated vehicles, vehicles with Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications technology, and other connected vehicles (i.e. with some form of wireless connectivity) can provide significant benefits to consumers and have the potential to revolutionize motor vehicle safety. At the same time, these automated and connected vehicles are expected to generate an enormous amount of data, some of which will be private and sensitive, such as real time precise geolocation data and the contents of driver communications that result when drivers connect their mobile phones to a vehicle’s computer system. The workshop will explore the consumer privacy and security issues that automated and connected vehicles pose.

The FTC and NHTSA invite comments from the public on the topics this workshop will cover. For further information on the workshop and the public comment process, including a list of suggested questions open for comment, please see the workshop’s detailed public notice.

The workshop, which is free and open to the public, began at Ten:00 a.m. EDT at the FTC’s Constitution Center, four hundred 7th St., SW, Washington, DC. It was webcast live on the FTC’s website. Registration information, an agenda, directions to the FTC’s Constitution Center building, and a list of speakers are available below.

The Commission accepted public comments on privacy and security issues associated with connected vehicles until May 20, 2017.

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