General Motors (GM) has agreed to a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that includes a five-year ban on sharing sensitive geolocation and driving behaviour data with consumer reporting agencies.
This agreement stems from allegations that GM's OnStar service and its now-discontinued Smart Driver programme collected and sold data from millions of vehicles without clear consumer consent.
The FTC’s investigation found that GM used misleading enrolment processes for OnStar and Smart Driver, leading to the collection of precise geolocation data and driving habits from users.
This data, tracked as frequently as every three seconds, was sold to third-party companies, including insurance firms, which used it to set rates or deny coverage—often without consumers being fully aware of how their information was being utilised.
The proposed order, which addresses these allegations, aims to provide consumers with greater control and transparency over their connected vehicle data.
Under the proposed settlement, GM, General Motors Holdings, and OnStar, all under the General Motors Company umbrella, will be prohibited from disclosing covered driver data for the next five years to consumer reporting agencies.
Additionally, the firms are required to obtain explicit consent from consumers before collecting connected vehicle data.
The companies are also required to also establish a system allowing US consumers to access and request deletion of their data.
Furthermore, consumers should be able to limit data collection from their vehicles, with the ability to disable the collection of precise geolocation data and opt-out of the collection of geolocation.
This latest settlement marks the FTC's first action concerning connected vehicle data privacy.
FTC chair Lina M Khan said: “GM monitored and sold people’s precise geolocation data and driver behavior information, sometimes as often as every three seconds.
“With this action, the FTC is safeguarding Americans’ privacy and protecting people from unchecked surveillance.”
