The EDPS issued its analysis related to the Connected Cars, point out that A variety of technologies fall under the term connected cars. Nowadays, many cars use sensors to measure data concerning driving behaviour (e.g. accelerometer, Global Navigation Satellite System or cameras) and the functioning of its systems, such as engine, air conditioning or air bags. The sensors can be built-in (i.e. offered by the connected car internal system) or brought-in (i.e. connected through an external device, such as a smartphone).

Furthermore, cars are increasingly equipped with functions providing information and entertainment (so-called infotainment systems) to the driver and passengers, such as hands free phone calls, WLAN hot spots, music, video, social media, mobile office or smart home services.

This data used to be processed and stored locally in the car. The growth of vehicle networking capabilities now allow cars to interact between themselves as well as with any other entity (V2X), such as traffic infrastructure (e.g. traffic lights), the vehicle manufacturer, other third-party service providers and other devices (e.g. smartphones), hence the name: “connected cars”. Some examples of connected car applications allow for remote control and diagnostics, mandatory notification of emergency services in case of an accident or assistance in finding available parking spaces.

In the near future, European connected cars could become a part of the Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), which will allow road users and traffic managers to share information and coordinate their actions.

However, the connected cars arise many privacy issues, due to the lack of transparency, excessive data collection, data retention, lack of control, lack of purpose limitation, Collection or inference of sensitive information, security and access control.

Source: EDPS

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