Are our Teslas snooping on us? We should know.

[MikeRTX]

A number of tattle-tale companies (the best-known one is LexisNexis, but others include IBM, Google, AWS, and Experion among others) collect information on your driving habits, where you go, etc., with the help of the carmaker. Software in the car reports to these companies and they share it with your insurance company and others, such as government agencies and private businesses.

They collect data such as how often you accelerate rapidly, how often you make hard stops, in some cases how often you exceed the speed limit speed, etc. Your car insurance company probably determines your insurance premiums at least partially based on this data. This has been an industry secret, but it's now beginning to leak out.

The question is, does Tesla cooperate in this snooping? I've read that if you have Tesla insurance, they do, but how about those who don't buy Tesla insurance?

You can opt out of LexisNexis, but I'm not sure about the others. I personally consider it a Big Brother intrusion my privacy and freedom, and I at least want to know if my own car is tattling on me!

 

[NeverGoingBack]

Pretty sure privacy is an illusion.

 

[terranx]

You can opt out of LexisNexis,

Sorta but not really. Unless you live in one of a few states, they only honor opt out requests in very specific circumstances.

Definitely curious if Tesla does this

 

[HoyaSaxa]

The privacy policy disclosed on the screen in-car, specifically sections relation to VIN-associated data, suggests Tesla is not providing this information. I did not notice any reference to Tesla Insurance being an exception to that, so a citation would be appreciated.

In the event we learned that Tesla was retaining and disseminating this kind of data tied to VIN, I would interpret that to be a breach of the privacy policy that’s shown in-vehicle under the privacy settings. The exception to this is that Tesla does seem to retain VIN-specific data related to safety incidents but that appears to be limited to automatic emergency braking and accidents.

Note that the other manufacturers who keep this information all obtained consent by gamifying driving behavior and, for example, scoring driving patterns. According to the reporting on this issue, it was all opt-in, not opt-out.

of course, a clear answer from Tesla would be nice but in the meantime perhaps someone in the industry can let us know if there able to buy data on Tesla drivers. My guess would be not.

 

[HoyaSaxa]

The privacy policy disclosed on the screen in-car, specifically sections relation to VIN-associated data, suggests Tesla is not providing this information. I did not notice any reference to Tesla Insurance being an exception to that, so a citation would be appreciated.

In the event we learned that Tesla was retaining and disseminating this kind of data tied to VIN, I would interpret that to be a breach of the privacy policy that’s shown in-vehicle under the privacy settings. The exception to this is that Tesla does seem to retain VIN-specific data related to safety incidents but that appears to be limited to automatic emergency braking and accidents.

Note that the other manufacturers who keep this information all obtained consent by gamifying driving behavior and, for example, scoring driving patterns. According to the reporting on this issue, it was all opt-in, not opt-out.

of course, a clear answer from Tesla would be nice but in the meantime perhaps someone in the industry can let us know if there able to buy data on Tesla drivers. My guess would be not.

Sorry for the additional reply. Not being able to edit is silly.

I took a look at the Tesla insurance and indeed it is using those metrics you discussed in the OP. However, i notice that in California they don’t use the score (presumably because it’s illegal). Just wanted to clarify that one point.

I still tend to think selling the data would violate the privacy policy as described on the in car menus.

 

[zoomer0056]

Sorry for the additional reply. Not being able to edit is silly.

I took a look at the Tesla insurance and indeed it is using those metrics you discussed in the OP. However, i notice that in California they don’t use the score (presumably because it’s illegal). Just wanted to clarify that one point.

I still tend to think selling the data would violate the privacy policy as described on the in car menus.

Can you include that specific info here, where it says metrics are used for Tesla insurance. Thanks.

 

[HoyaSaxa]

Can you include that specific info here, where it says metrics are used for Tesla insurance. Thanks.

https://www.tesla.com/support/insurance/what-is-tesla-insurance

https://www.tesla.com/support/insurance/tesla-real-time-insurance

https://www.tesla.com/support/insurance/safety-score#version-2.1

Except in California.