How much does your car know about you?

Cars today are closer to smartphones than ever before, with the new Tesla chip able to perform 72 trillion operations per second.

Like smartphones, will cars start to gain a bad reputation for sharing user’s data without their knowledge or have poor security mechanisms, asks Vanarama which has done a study into privacy and data safety within connected cars, comparing the information that is collected from 10 of the biggest car companies and who can gain access to it.

Information collected about you from your car or synced mobile devices includes name, address, phone number, email, payment information and driver’s licence.

“If your connected car comes complete with its own application, then any information that you submit will be automatically connected to your car and will help to build a profile of you, especially when this is matched with data from the infotainment system within the car,” Vanarama says.

 “Personal information such as your name and address (findable from your saved location on your sat nav) will all be accessible, around with your phone number and email. Your payment information will also be stored with the car manufacturer you pay for any additional content like apps on your phone or infotainment unit.”

Four parties can access your data, Vanarama says.

These include car manufacturers, third parties (such as ones you authorise, whether on a mobile application or on the car’s infotainment unit – check permissions before accepting them) and car manufacturers are required to share your information with third parties by law, such as the police if you are involved in an accident.

Your data may be stored in the cloud, and, although it’s extremely unlikely, hackers may have the ability to access your information remotely.

If your information is stored locally on the car’s internal computer and you forget to erase it before handing it back to the leasing company or selling it, the new owner or driver of the car my gain access to your private information.

 User data generated by the average adult in the US is valued at about US$35 per month, or US$420 a year.

Meanwhile, research reports the market for connected cars is projected to soar to more than US$215 billion by 2027.

As technology advances, vehicles are constantly redefined and primed to become more intelligent than ever.

Valens automotive business head Gideon Kedem believes connected cars are the future of mobility. From allowing vehicles to communicate with road infrastructures to preventing and mitigating crashes to positively impacting the environment by reducing emissions, the connected car brings a safer, seamless driving experience, he says.