Big Brother could one day be watching you as you drive – that’s the fear of Volkswagen chief Martin Winterkorn who said that carmakers must be beware of the connected vehicle of the future turning into a “data monster”.

Speaking at the opening of the CeBIT IT fair in Hanover, Winterkorn said VW would protect customers against the abuse of their data.

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He added: “I clearly say yes to big data, yes to greater security and convenience, but no to paternalism and Big Brother. At this point, the entire industry is called upon. We need a voluntary commitment by the automobile industry.”

Increasing amounts of data are being collected in-car as vehicles are equipped with higher levels of infotainment and connectivity services as well as self-driving functions.

The Financial Times noted that, during tests with an autonomous S-Class saloon on German roads last year, Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz said images from the onboard camera alone generated 300 gigabytes of data every hour.

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Winterkorn said modern vehicles have become mobile computers, with 1.5km of cables, more than 50 control units and the computing power of 20 advanced personal computers but added: “The car must not become a data monster.”

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The collection of data will provide the car industry the chance to offer new services and, while this could be useful in terms of alerting drivers when a service is due, some could be more intrusive: insurance companies, for example, are expected to push customers to install telematic systems that could identify aggressive driving patterns and penalise these with higher premiums.

The other challenge is how to store data securely, what can be discarded and which should be preserved.