Connected Cars and Automated Driving: Privacy Challenges on Wheels.

AuthorPizzi, Peter J.

MUCH has been written in the technology press regarding issues of privacy, the connected car, and the promise of automated driving and other innovative mobility solutions. "Connected cars," which are on the road today in one form or another, merge the driver's digital world and means of transport. Automated driving, with the promise of true autonomous, self-driving vehicles, holds the potential in the near future to revolutionize the way people and goods move around. These developments, which challenge traditional ideas of tort and product liability and the insurance coverage that should apply, also loom as the cyber-criminal's new frontier and pose privacy challenges.

Why should any of these developments concern privacy? After all, device manufacturers equip today's smartphones with built-in geo-locating capabilities that enable numerous applications to track the user's every move, producing a rich stream of data which implicates the user's innermost thoughts. Apps added or activated by the smartphone owner enable the platform--either Google or Apple for most devices--to identify the movement of individual stocks in the owner's portfolio after the market closes each day or to inquire, "Are you at Le Pain Quotidien on 58th Street?" as lunch is being served. Other apps collect the user's heart rate, level of stress, steps taken each day, and a myriad of other data. A connected car may get the user to a shopping mall, but smartphones know what individual stores a patron visits inside the mall, the aisles in the store that are browsed, and the articles of clothing considered for purchase, so that tailored ads, discounts, or coupons may dispatched the user's way. (1) How, then, could autonomous vehicles connected to networks and data centers via the cloud pose privacy challenges that haven't yet been addressed, if not resolved, in the operation of smartphones?

This article explores the subject of privacy, connected cars, and automated driving. Additionally, this article will introduce the reader to current approaches to privacy advanced by constituencies having a stake in the continued advancement of connected vehicles and automated driving. (2)

  1. Defining Terms

    Car connectivity generally comprises the sets of functions and capabilities that digitally and wirelessly link automobiles to drivers, services, and other automobiles. (3) Thus, a "connected car" generally refers to a vehicle equipped with technologies and services that transmit and receive data via wireless internet. The concept of a connected car is related to concepts of automated driving, which includes efforts to create autonomous driving and other innovative mobility solutions.

    SAE International, the society of automotive engineers, anticipates connectivity and automated driving emerging and being deployed along a continuum of functionality. SAE therefore has developed a scale to describe that continuum, with the fifth level representing a completely autonomous vehicle. In late 2016, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ("NHTSA") adopted the SAE definition, which NHTSA then presented as follows:

    There are multiple definitions for various levels of automation and for some time there has been need for standardization to aid clarity and consistency. Therefore, this Policy adopts the [SAE] definitions for levels of automation. The SAE definitions divide vehicles into levels based on "who does what, when." Generally: * At SAE Level 0, the human driver does everything;

    * At SAE Level 1, an automated system on the vehicle can sometimes assist the human driver to conduct some parts of the driving task;

    * At SAE Level 2, an automated system on the vehicle can actually conduct some parts of the driving task, while the human continues to monitor the driving environment and performs the rest of the driving task;

    * At SAE Level 3, an automated system can both actually conduct some parts of the driving task and monitor the driving environment in some instances, but the human driver must be ready to take back control when the automated system requests;

    * At SAE Level 4, an automated system can conduct the driving task and monitor the driving environment, and the human need not take back control, but the automated system can operate only in certain environments and under certain conditions; and

    * At SAE Level 5, the automated system can perform all driving tasks, under all conditions that a human driver could perform them. (4)

    Many vehicles on the road today contain SAE Level 1 and Level 2 capabilities. Senator Markey's report titled "Tracking & Hacking: Security & Privacy Gaps Put American Drivers at Risk" and the recent National Auto Dealers Association and Future of Privacy Form's guide titled, "Personal Data in Your Car," (5) both conclude that vehicles on the road today have aspects of connectedness that place them well along the SAE continuum. For example, cars at the present time have on-board diagnostic information, apps (e.g., Apple CarPlay, Android Auto), location information available through navigation systems, and telematics services such as OnStar. With the SAE definitions in mind, an analysis of the impact of motor vehicle connectedness on the privacy of owners and occupants may be undertaken.

  2. The Promise of Autonomous Vehicles

    Vehicle connectivity and automated driving promise significant benefits as technology advances along the SAE continuum from today's Internet and app-equipped vehicles to SAE Level 5 autonomous vehicles.

    NHTSA estimates that 35,092 Americans lost their lives in traffic accidents in 2015. The trend is not positive. It is getting worse. NHTSA also estimates that 27,875 Americans died in accidents in just the first nine months of 2016 alone. Globally, the World Health Organization estimates that 1.2 million lives are lost in crashes every year. These are numbers that could be reduced significantly with fully self-driving cars, especially since NHTSA estimates that 94% of crashes in the United States are attributed to human factors. (6) Consider the impact of autonomous vehicles on the blind, the elderly, the disabled, or those living with other conditions that make driving impossible. Infrastructure spending also could be diminished by connected vehicles, which make more efficient use of existing highways through closer operating distance between vehicles, improved ride-sharing, and other benefits. (7)

    While there are some differences in the precise timeline, at present industry and technology leaders generally expect SAE Level 5 vehicles to arrive by 2025. (8) There are numerous competing platforms engaged in a pitched battle to commercialize self-navigation technology. In Singapore, a self-driving taxi service launched in August 2016. (9) The competition among Alphabet's Waymo, Uber, Tesla, and other firms is frenzied and has been widely covered in the business and mainstream media. (10) For example, in February 2017, Waymo sued Uber for theft of automated vehicle technology, and in March moved for a...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT