Privacy concerns raised by smart vehicle drivers

Cars are becoming increasingly smart and digitalized: their memories, cameras and voice recognition devices are creating enjoyable experiences, but they also collect vehicle information and send it back to the carmakers.

While enjoying their smart vehicles, 77.4 percent of respondents in China did not want to share information with the carmakers because of security concerns, according to a recent J.D.Power survey.

Among the types of information they were most reluctant to offer were the drivers and passengers' biological statistics, images within the vehicles and the vehicles' locations.

The findings were the results of a survey of 1,184 smart vehicle owners J.D. Power conducted in collaboration with Global Times between November and December 2021.

A large number of carmakers including Nio and Tesla as well as autonomous driving startup Pony.ai told China Daily that they desensitize data collected so there is no risk of information leaks or privacy infringement.

The pollsters said the survey respondents' sense of insecurity about their personal information may be the result of a number of reasons including insufficient notice from carmakers.

Those who know that carmakers collect information in the vehicles accounted for 21.8 percent of the respondents, almost 10 percentage points lower than smartphone users.

Almost 48 percent of the respondents said they have never received alerts from carmakers asking for their consent to collect information in the vehicles.

Another source of insecurity came from the respondents' worries that such information collected in the vehicles may expose them to grave risks including extortion and vehicles being hacked as a result of information leaks, said the pollsters.

Their anxiety was aggravated by their being unaware of legislation they can resort to for help. Over 20 percent of the respondents said they had no idea if there is such legislation to protect their rights.

Pei Lin, director of digital customer experience of automotive product at J.D. Power China, said "Data is becoming a crucial competitive edge for smart vehicle makers and those who excel in data protection will gain more trust from potential customers."

A report from the China Society of Internet showed around 3 million vehicles sold in 2020 had access to the internet and had some form of driving-assist functions, accounting for 11.8 percent of total deliveries in the country.

The figure is expected to soar in the coming years to 75 percent in 2025, which will be higher than the global average.

China issued trial guidelines on automobile data protection in August 2021 in a move to protect drivers' privacy as vehicles are becoming increasingly digitalized.

"The guidelines focus on security and development equally," a senior official at the Cyberspace Administration of China, one of the guidelines' drafters said.

" (The aim is) to cut disorderly collection and illegal use, but encourage its efficient use to facilitate the sector's healthy development," said the official.

The regulatory moves will help assure consumers and make them more willing to choose smart vehicles, said Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association.