• News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
  • News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
Sign up Now (For Free)

Sign up for our newsletter and receive the latest automotive news in your inbox!

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks for subscribing!
News
Read Now
  • All News
  • Automakers
  • Automobiles
  • Auto Shows
  • Business
  • EVs & Environment
  • Guides
  • Lawsuits/Legal
  • Regulatory
  • Ride-Sharing
  • Safety & Recalls
  • Technology
Recent
  • March New Vehicle Sales to Rise 6.2% Over Last Year
  • Hyundai, Kia Recall Warns Owners of 570K Vehicles to Park Outside
  • Ford Facing $3 Billion in Losses on EV Business for 2023
  • Higher Interest Rates, Bank Failures Pose Challenge to Car Business
  • General Motors to Face Class Action Lawsuit
  • Cruise Applies to Test Robotaxis Statewide in California
  • Chevrolet Pulling Plug on Camaro – But an All-Electric Successor Already in the Works
  • Want to Buy an EV? Welcome to the 34 Percent!
  • The End of an Era for Rolls-Royce
  • South Carolina Provides $1.29 Billion Incentive for new Scout Factory
Editor’s Choice
    Reviews
    Read Now
    • All Reviews
      • Feeder
    • Classic Cars
    • Concept Cars
    • Convertibles
    • Coupes
    • Crossovers/CUVs
    • Diesel
    • Hot hatches
    • Hybrids
    • Luxury Vehicles
    • Minivans
    • Muscle Cars
    • Pickups
    • Sedans
    • Sports Cars
    • Super Cars
    • SUVs
    Recent Reviews
    • A Week With: 2023 Genesis GV80 Prestige 3.5 Turbo
    • First Drive: 2024 Dodge Hornet R/T
    • First Drive: 2023 Dodge Hornet GT
    • First Drive: 2023 Genesis Electrified GV70
    • First Drive: 2023 Nissan Ariya e-4orce AWD
    • A Week With: 2023 Jeep Compass Limited
    • A Week With: 2023 Cadillac Escalade V-Series
    • A Week With: 2023 Volvo XC40 AWD Ultimate
    • First Drive: 2024 Subaru Crosstrek
    • First Drive: 2023 Lexus RZ 450e
    Editor’s Choice
      Guides
      Car Warranty
      • Endurance Warranty Reviews
      • BMW Extended Warranty
      • Extended Warranty For Cars Over 100k Miles
      • Extended Car Warranty Cost
      • Subaru Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Reviews
      • CarShield Cost
      • Aftermarket Car Warranty
      • CARCHEX Warranty Reviews
      • Reputable Extended Car Warranty Companies
      • Used Car Warranty Companies
      • Best Car Warranty
      • Is CarShield A Scam?
      • Mercedes Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Plans
      Insurance
      • How To Identify A Car Insurance Company
      • Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • How Far Back Does A Car Insurance Company Look
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance For Used Cars
      • State Farm Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance From Progressive
      • Dollar A Day Insurance
      • Auto Insurance For SSI Recipients
      • Car Insurance Rates After A Suspended License
      • Auto Insurance For Salvage Vehicles
      • Average Cost of Dodge Ram 1500 Car Insurance
      • Car Insurance Florida
      • Full Coverage Auto Insurance
      • GrubHub Insurance
      • Amazon Delivery Auto Insurance
      Shipping
      • Car Shipping Companies
      • uShip Reviews
      • Auto Shipping From California To Hawaii
      • Montway Auto Transport Reviews
      • Cheap Car Shipping
      • Easy Auto Ship Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Miami
      • Auto Shipping To Alaska
      • Car Shipping Cost
      • Auto Shipping Hawaii
      • Auto Shipping Puerto Rico
      • Sherpa Auto Transport Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Atlanta
      • Auto Shipping Boston
      • Auto Shipping. Chicago
      About
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
      • Terms of Use
      • Privacy Policy
      • Affiliate Disclosure
      • Sitemap
      TheDetroitBureau.com

      More than just “another” place to find news, reviews, spy shots, commentary, features, and guides about the auto industry. TheDetroitBureau doesn’t stop with the press releases or confuse a few lines of opinion with insightful, in-depth reporting.

      Contact Us

      Like what you see? Have some ideas for making The Detroit Bureau.com even better? Let us know, we’d love to hear your voice.

        Media
        Listen Now
        • Headlight News: All Episodes
        More from TheDetroitBureau
        • Guides
        • Latest News
        • Auto Reviews
        • Podcasts
        Headlight News

        TheDetroitBureau.com’s Headlight News offers a look at the past week’s top automotive news stories, as well as what’s coming up in the week ahead. Check out the week’s top story and our latest review…along with a dive into the past with this week in automotive history.

        home > news > Automobiles > Safer Cars Could Mean Trading Off Privacy

        Safer Cars Could Mean Trading Off Privacy

        Cyber-security also a critical issue.

        Paul A. Eisenstein
        Paul A. Eisenstein , Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
        Sept. 11, 2014
        Connected vehicles could mean safer roads, but also raise concerns about privacy and hacking.

        New federal rules will require automakers to equip all of their vehicles with so-called “black boxes” that track the way a motorist is driving and can provide investigators a clue to the cause of a crash. The downside is that such data could also be used as evidence against a driver accused of breaking the law.

        But that’s just the beginning of a high-tech revolution on wheels that raises even more serious concerns about the trade-off between safety and personal privacy.

        A Smart Move!

        The Michigan Department of Transportation this week announced plans to create a vehicle-to-infrastructure communications network along 120 miles of Detroit-area highways, while Cadillac said it will begin equipping its CTS model with a vehicle-to-vehicle communications system by 2017. The federal government has signaled it may soon mandate these V2I and V2V technologies across the country and on all new cars.

        The goal is to create a network of “smart,” connected  vehicles that are always aware of potential problems, whether a crash, a traffic tie-up or weather-related issues. During this week’s Intelligent Transportation Systems, or ITS, conference in Detroit, 10,000 industry leaders were told how this technology could make freeways run more smoothly and, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Administrator David Friedman, save “thousands of lives” annually.

        (Click Here for more on Cadillac’s plans to launch a semi-autonomous sedan.)

        But skeptics are becoming increasingly concerned about whether motorists will have to give up privacy and personal data in the process.

        “It’s not just general data, how many people shop at this store. They know it’s you, they know where every single person went and what they did,” New York Sen. Charles Schumer said earlier this year. “Cars are ‘smarter’ than they have ever been, and they will only continue to get smarter as technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Cars are now able to track where we shop, where we eat and where we go on family vacations, but drivers should be able to go about their daily lives without being tracked.”

        There’s already a growing flap about the use of license plate readers that can track any vehicle passing by a fixed or mobile camera system. And the Washington Post this month disclosed the existence of a controversial police network that has been used to keep an eye on motorists “of interest” to authorities as they travel around the country.

        The potential is clearly there for the new smart car technologies to provide much more detailed information, though industry experts say that is not the goal, nor the plan.

        In most cases, “We don’t need personalized data,” said Ralf Lenniger, senior vice president, interior electronic solutions for Continental Automotive. “If cars are crossing a route, it’s not important who’s in the car, it’s important what’s across the street.”

        (For more on the ITS conference and tomorrow’s smart cars, Click Here.)

        Smart car proponents contend that what they’re looking for is information about driving conditions, such as the speed and density of traffic, as well as such weather issues as ice or fog. That could be used to warn motorists to divert to alternate routes, for example. And once autonomous vehicles start to take to the highways, it might allow them to travel in tightly-grouped packs to squeeze more vehicles onto today’s overcrowded roads.

        But there could be significant pressure to gather more information. Law enforcement authorities would be happy to be able to simply query a vehicle to see if the driver was speeding, or ran a red light, rather than having to catch them in the act.

        At the other extreme, marketers are salivating at the idea of being able to reach motorists on the go with targeted ads, much like those Google and others deliver to computer screens. Stop at a Starbucks every morning and suddenly you discover a virtual coupon displayed on your navi screen as you head to work in the morning.

        But an even bigger concern is whether hackers might take an interest in your personal data, just as they have gone after what’s on personal computers, and in the servers run by retailers such as Target and Home Depot.

        “It’s a relatively low risk today,” Karl Heimer, the senior research director at the Battelle Center for Advanced Vehicle Environments, told TheDetroitBureau.com during a recent interview. But he warned that it won’t be for long. The more smart cars on the road, the more information they offer, the more appealing a target they become.  That message is gaining traction.

        “The time is now: We need to make sure we move forward aggressively on cybersecurity,” NHTSA Administrator Friedman said during a speech at the ITS conference.

        (Mobile security experts race to outgun highway hackers. Click Here for the story.)

        While Friedman said no car has yet been successfully hacked, researchers have shown it is possible, one team recently accessing the underlying software used by the high-tech Tesla Model S. Another university group was able to crack the code for a vehicle’s remote keyless entry system.

        So, even if authorities decide to put personal data off-limits in tomorrow’s cars, the fear is that hackers won’t be so respectful of privacy.

        How to Care for Your Car

        Cheap Car Warranty

        Editor's Choice

        Best Extended Car Warranty

        Editor's Choice
        Recently Published
        Dealer lot 2021

        March New Vehicle Sales to Rise 6.2% Over Last Year

        Yesterday
        2022 Hyundai SantaFe 7

        Hyundai, Kia Recall Warns Owners of 570K Vehicles to Park Outside

        Yesterday
        Bronco Raptor rock crawling REL

        Ford Facing $3 Billion in Losses on EV Business for 2023

        Yesterday

        Leave a Reply Cancel reply

        Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

        Share this article:
        © The Detroit Bureau 2023
        • Guides
        • Privacy Policy
        • Terms of Use
        • Affiliate Disclosure
        • Contact Us
        • Sitemap
        Follow Us: