Smart cars that share revealing info about drivers catch privacy watchdog's eye

Fucking Big Brother. Maybe it's time to trade my 2015 SLE in on another more ecologically responsible gas guzzling pickup like my old 76 GMC Sierra Classic 4X4 with the iconic small block 350. Gas prices are just low enough that, combined with classic car plates it just might be cheaper than driving a new vehicle. And on the plus side I wouldn't have to worry about it being hacked, my data being mined or even if some nimrod ran into me.

Some cars are too smart for their own good.

Ahh, you guys wait till the insurance companies start mining this data in order to determine your risk level!

Just waiting for the first death....

Already doing it in the UK, under the guise of getting a discount for 'safe' driving.

Seems like a good idea. Put the costs on the yahoos. And insurance companies don't need smart cars for that, they already do it in some places using installed sensors. You want a discount you have to install one of those sensors.

Seems like a good idea. Put the costs on the yahoos. And insurance companies don't need smart cars for that, they already do it in some places using installed sensors. You want a discount you have to install one of those sensors.

Wonderful idea. Not. So long as you never speed, and never drive in rush hour traffic - which causes sudden braking too often for my liking. I'd love it if that guy that tailgated me this morning before pulling out and speeding through a red light camera got higher insurance because of it. But cars can't tell if they are following to close or not.

But they can't tell if said yahoo pulls in front of me then brake checks me. And god help you if you lend your car to the teenager!

Already doing it in the UK, under the guise of getting a discount for 'safe' driving.

http://qz.com/230055/car-insurance-comp ... -let-them/

Seems like a good idea. Put the costs on the yahoos. And insurance companies don't need smart cars for that, they already do it in some places using installed sensors. You want a discount you have to install one of those sensors.

Wonderful idea. Not. So long as you never speed, and never drive in rush hour traffic - which causes sudden braking too often for my liking. I'd love it if that guy that tailgated me this morning before pulling out and speeding through a red light camera got higher insurance because of it. But cars can't tell if they are following to close or not.

But they can't tell if said yahoo pulls in front of me then brake checks me. And god help you if you lend your car to the teenager!

That guy would pay higher insurance because of the sudden acceleration and swerving. Rush hour traffic, no need to sudden brake if you look ahead. Just don't do like the others, jerking forward, braking sharply. If you lend your car to a teenager, you should pay higher rates.

I do speed a bit, but not high speed, not in heavy traffic (unless it's flowing at speed greater than the limit). So I'd get punished way less than the racers. And, I'd have a greater incentive to be a good boy, although I already am.

Maybe its all moot because the cars will be so smart they will drive themselves soon. Don't know what all the grand prix heroes and road ragers will do then.

If it gets too bad you will see a lot of web sites offering new firmware to flash the cars on board eeprom to disable the spy sensors.

similar thing happened to me in the 90's. I had been with the insurance company for over 4 years. 1 ticket my second year with them. I go in for renewal for a 5th year and my monthly fee which had been going down each year went up higher then my initial rate. When I asked why it was because of my credit report. Company said that my credit report and their stats indicated I was more of a risk.

Over 4 years with them and this policy change cost them a customer. Policy set by other peoples actions not mine.

This is in response to Dr.Caleb's comment not the article. Sorry forgot to quote it prior to posting.

There's a growing cottage industry of mechanics who 'sanitize' new cars and remove or neuter all of this bullshit so it stops spying on you. That's probably what I'm going to have to do with the next car I buy.

The problem being, if I have the 'app' to monitor me, and I get brake checked, then their actions reflect on me when I'm just trying to obey the law. There's no way to tell the insurance company that an incident wasn't my doing, and insurance companies like to increase premiums for any flimsy reason they can get away with.

I've been considering too, like F.O.G., to get an older car and OEM the crap out of it so it's a state-of-the-art aftermarket performance monster. That gives me the bang for the buck, and I know what all the systems are doing.