The new Toyota RAV4 is pretty good fun to drive. That may not seem to be the most thrilling of facts, but it sets the scene for what happened next. While testing the new RAV4 on the launch event being held near Malaga, I found myself on a tight and twisty road snaking its way up into the hills near the town of Coin.
Tipping the RAV enthusiastically into a fast, well-sighted corner, I was thoroughly enjoying myself until the car’s electronics decided that my rapid steering movements were not fun, but foreboding, and must mean that I was swerving to avoid something in the road.
Bing went the dashboard, as a message flashed up on the digital driver’s screen which told me that the RAV4’s forward-facing camera, which is mounted in the windscreen and spends most of its time looking for reasons to trigger the automated emergency braking, had now switched to dash cam mode and would save the previous 20 seconds of footage in case it was needed for evidence in the event of a crash.
I was, I confess, a little surprised by this. I mean, I was driving enthusiastically but hardly dangerously, and my cornering techniques have never raised any cause for alarm in the past. Toyota’s implacable electronics clearly thought otherwise.
READ MORE
This dash cam function can potentially be useful, but it’s also indicative of a current trend of massive data gathering as your car drives. Unsurprisingly, your car’s various sensors can log and analyse all sorts of information about where and how you’re driving, but the use of that data is ramping up considerably now, and that is starting to sound some concerning privacy warning bells.
For some time now, car makers have been touting the benefits of ‘swarm’ data from cars. Cars are, increasingly, a set of sensitive sensors on wheels, festooned with cameras and radars that can detect the world around them. These sensors are, of course, primarily used to trigger electronic safety systems to assist the driver, but thanks to ‘Car-To-X’ communication, they can also be used to provide warnings for other cars in the area.
For example, you could be driving down the road and encounter a patch of black ice. Your car’s safety systems – traction control, stability control, ABS brakes – might be triggered by this patch of slippery surface, and thanks to an always-on internet data connection, which is standard in almost all modern cars, that moment where you skidded slightly can be logged and sent out as a broadcast warning to other cars in the vicinity that share the same software.
Volkswagen, for example, is now proposing an expansion of such a set-up to include the images taken from your car’s cameras. The goal, says VW, is to “continuously optimise driver assistance systems and automated driving functions using data from real traffic situations. Customers can benefit from these improvements through software updates to their vehicles. The ongoing enhancements to driving functions increase comfort and make a positive contribution to overall road safety”.
The system is now being rolled out across 40 countries, including Ireland, and covers vehicles made by VW, Cupra, Skoda, Porsche, Audi and Volkswagen Vans.
[ Your car knows where you go. Here’s why you should be concernedOpens in new window ]
You can easily imagine the efficacy of such a system. Knowing that a car’s traction control has been triggered, for example, tells you one thing, but having the contextual knowledge of the location in which it has happened, and the prevailing conditions of light and weather, adds depth and nuance to that knowledge and therefore the warnings to other vehicles can be refined.
Equally, the system can be used for more preventative purposes. For instance, your car’s camera may detect, as you drive along a quiet street, that there are children playing close to the edge of the road. While you roll past safely and without incident, that knowledge can then be parlayed into warnings for other cars in the area, telling them that children are at play in that specific area, advising more cautious driving.
“Data collection and transmission may also include other vehicles or road users such as pedestrians and cyclists in the immediate surroundings. This is essential because camera-based systems must visually classify objects and people accurately, even under challenging conditions, and correctly assess complex traffic situations,” said Volkswagen in a statement.
“These are significantly more practical than tests with prototypes or simulations. The goal is to design assistance functions so that customers perceive them as effective and ideally keep them activated at all times. Active systems not only enhance safety for the drivers themselves but also for all road users around them.”
While this all seems laudable, there is an obvious concern and that’s data privacy. Connected technology within cars has clear data privacy issues, as such systems can track your movement and position to an incredibly finite degree, and organisations such as BEUC (the European Union’s consumer watchdog) have raised serious concerns about ensuring an individual’s data privacy when such systems are in use.
In theory, the data is fully anonymised before use, and Volkswagen said: “All data protection regulations are, of course, strictly observed. Individual information about people in the traffic environment is not relevant.
[ Heated seats controversy highlights the perils of connected car techOpens in new window ]
“Continuous data transmission for this purpose does not take place. Customer consent is the fundamental prerequisite for the transfer and processing of data. This consent can be given through various channels and is implemented individually by each brand – for example, as an option in the customer profile. Consent can be revoked at any time.”
Nevertheless, concerns over the safety of such data remain. The BEUC has said that such systems “raise questions regarding liability, safety, data protection, fair competition and more”.
Outside of the EU, there have been cases of car-generated data being incorrectly shared. For example, in Florida, the owner of a car made by General Motors (GM) claimed that their driving data had been shared with an insurance company, without their consent.
Following a lawsuit surrounding that incident, GM announced that it was suspending sharing data with any data brokers who work with the insurance industry. More pertinently, in 2021, Volkswagen and Audi suffered a data breach that exposed the details of 3.3 million customers.
“As the automotive industry progresses rapidly toward software-defined vehicles, data privacy and cybersecurity have emerged as critical areas for automakers to harness the potential of such vehicles,” said Vivek Beriwal, a senior research analyst with S&P Global Mobility.
“With cyberattacks on the rise in the market, the success of a brand will depend heavily on ensuring a healthy balance between user data protection and data monetisation. Car makers that move slowly on building expertise on secured data processing, either in-house or through partnerships, will find it difficult to navigate the complex landscape of vehicle cybersecurity.”
BMW has found itself caught up in a similar controversy. Its new electric iX3 and i3 models use similar technology to VW, and it can use the car’s exterior safety and parking cameras to record all around the vehicle in the event of an emergency situation being logged (or, in my case, finding an interesting stretch of road and enjoying myself …).
BMW’s collection of images and data officially kicked off, perhaps appropriately, on April Fool’s Day, but the car maker defended the use of such technology, saying owners and drivers had to opt in to activate the system and could revoke their approval at any time.
Given the weary regularity with which we all absent-mindedly press ‘approve’ buttons online, that may be of cold comfort, but BMW did also say that all data is fully anonymised before it is analysed. European GDPR laws should provide an extra layer of protection for the consumer, but such things are far from absolute.
Concerns have also been raised about the decision by the UK’s Motability service – which provides grants and vehicles to those with physical disabilities – insisting that any driver under 30 who qualifies for one of its cars must have a ‘black box’ recorder installed. Used by many insurance companies to monitor driver behaviour, black boxes record how you’re driving and note any instances of sudden acceleration or braking, and sharp steering movements.
It seems that the spy in the cab is fast becoming standard equipment.
