You brake hard to avoid another vehicle. You accelerate quickly onto the highway. You drive home late at night.
To you, these are ordinary moments behind the wheel. But your car may be keeping a record of them.
Modern vehicles can collect information about how you drive, including your speed, braking, acceleration, mileage, and location. Some of that information can even make its way to companies that provide data to insurance providers.
And here’s what makes the issue particularly interesting: some drivers may not realize how much information their vehicles collect — or where it could eventually end up.
How Your Car Can Share Information About Your Driving
Many newer vehicles are equipped with connected technology that allows them to communicate with manufacturers and online services.
Some systems collect information known as telematics, which can include how fast a vehicle travels, how suddenly it brakes, how quickly it accelerates, and when or where it is driven.
This information can serve legitimate purposes, such as providing driving feedback, supporting connected-car features, or helping insurers offer usage-based insurance programs.
But it can also raise privacy concerns.
Depending on the manufacturer, the services a driver uses, and the permissions they have given, driving information may be shared with outside companies.
In some arrangements, the process works like this:
-
A connected vehicle or smartphone app collects information about driving behaviour.
-
The automaker or another service provider receives some of that information.
-
A data analytics company processes it into reports or driving scores.
-
An insurance company may use an eligible report when assessing risk or determining premiums.
Not every vehicle participates in such a program, and not every insurance company uses this type of information.
But the practice is more than a hypothetical possibility.
What Happened With General Motors?
In 2024, The New York Times reported that General Motors had shared driving information collected through its OnStar Smart Driver program with two data analytics companies: LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Verisk.
Those companies provided information and services to the insurance industry.
Some drivers told reporters they were surprised to learn about the data sharing. Others said they did not remember enrolling in the program or understand how their information might be used.
GM maintained that customers had agreed to the relevant data practices through the program’s terms.
Following the reporting and growing scrutiny, GM announced that it had stopped sharing Smart Driver customer data with LexisNexis and Verisk. The company also discontinued the Smart Driver program.
The controversy raised a broader question: when drivers agree to connected-car services, do they fully understand what they are agreeing to?
Is General Motors the Only Manufacturer Involved?
No. Other automakers have also offered programs that collect driving information or allow customers to share it for insurance-related purposes.
However, the details vary considerably.
Ford has stated that it does not sell connected-vehicle driving data to data brokers and that insurance-related sharing occurs with customer authorization.
Toyota has similarly described arrangements in which customers can consent to sharing driving information with insurers through connected services or an affiliated program.
These distinctions matter.
A manufacturer collecting driving data does not automatically mean that it is selling that information to insurance companies. Some programs are specifically designed for customers who choose to participate.
Still, the amount of information modern vehicles can collect has attracted attention.
Consumer Reports has documented extensive data-collection practices among major automakers in the United States, including privacy policies that permit certain forms of third-party sharing.
The concern is not simply whether the technology exists. It is whether drivers understand how their information may be collected, stored, and used.
Your Smartphone Could Be Sharing Driving Data Too
Your vehicle is not necessarily the only source of information about your driving.
Smartphones contain sensors capable of detecting movement, changes in speed, and location.
Some apps use this information for navigation, fitness tracking, or other services. But reporting and regulatory investigations have also raised concerns about certain apps providing movement or location information to businesses involved in insurance analytics.
That means driving-related information can potentially come from an app even when a vehicle itself is not participating in an automaker’s telematics program.
As with connected-car services, the details depend on the app, its permissions, and the applicable privacy rules.
What Regulators Found — and What They Alleged
The controversy has also led to government enforcement actions.
In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission alleged that General Motors and OnStar collected and shared precise location and driving-behaviour information without providing adequate notice and obtaining appropriate consent.
The matter resulted in a consent order that restricts certain disclosures to consumer reporting agencies and imposes requirements involving consumer consent and data practices.
GM did not admit the allegations as part of the settlement. The order should not be confused with a court verdict establishing every allegation.
California authorities also announced a settlement involving GM’s handling and sale of location and driving information. The action included a civil penalty and restrictions on certain data practices.
Separately, Texas officials brought legal action involving alleged smartphone-based tracking and insurance analytics.
These actions show that regulators have taken concerns about driving-data privacy seriously.
However, they do not establish that every automaker shares information without permission or that every insurance company relies on secretly collected driving records.
Could Your Driving Data Affect Your Insurance Premium?
Potentially, yes.
Insurance companies already use various types of information to assess risk and calculate premiums, subject to the rules in the jurisdictions where they operate.
Some insurers also offer telematics-based programs that consider driving behaviour. Depending on the program, factors such as braking, acceleration, mileage, and driving times may influence an insurance assessment.
In certain arrangements, insurers can obtain driving-related reports from outside data providers.
But there is an important distinction between an insurer offering a voluntary driving-monitoring program and an insurer obtaining information through another company’s data-sharing arrangement.
The rules, permissions, and available information can differ.
It is also important to remember that practices documented in the United States do not automatically apply in Canada or elsewhere. Insurance regulation and privacy requirements vary by jurisdiction.
How Can You Find Out What Your Car Is Collecting?
If you drive a connected vehicle, there are several places worth checking.
Start with the vehicle’s infotainment system and any companion smartphone app provided by the manufacturer.
Look for settings related to connected services, driving insights, vehicle analytics, location sharing, and insurance programs.
You can also review the manufacturer’s privacy notice to see what categories of information may be collected and whether that information can be shared with third parties.
If you are enrolled in a telematics or usage-based insurance program, check what information the program collects and how it may affect your policy.
Depending on where you live, privacy laws may also give you rights to request information about personal data held by a company or to limit certain uses.
Turning off a feature does not necessarily erase information already collected, and some vehicle data collection may continue for other purposes.
The most useful approach is to understand which services are active and what choices are actually available.
The Bigger Question: Who Controls Your Driving Data?
Cars have changed dramatically.
What was once primarily a mechanical machine is increasingly a connected device capable of collecting and transmitting information.
That technology can make driving more convenient, improve certain services, and support insurance programs that take actual driving behaviour into account.
But it also creates questions about privacy, consent, and control.
Should drivers have to search through lengthy agreements to discover how their information might be shared? And should information collected for one purpose be available for another?
There is no single answer that applies to every manufacturer, vehicle, or country.
What is clear is that driving data has become valuable far beyond the vehicle itself.
Your car knows where you go, how fast you drive, and how you behave behind the wheel. But how much control do you really have over where that information ends up?
SOURCES: Federal Trade Commission, California Department of Justice, Texas Attorney General, The New York Times, Consumer Reports, General Motors, Ford, Toyota, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Verisk
