General Motors marketed its Smart Driver system as a way for parents to monitor teenage drivers or for adults to track their driving behavior. But in 2024, it emerged that GM was sharing this data with brokers. These brokers then sold the data to insurance companies, and some drivers found that their insurance became more expensive as a result. To make matters worse, many of these drivers claimed that they were never aware of agreeing to share such data for such purposes.
Last year, GM and its subsidiary OnStar reached an agreement with the FTC prohibiting them from sharing certain types of driver data with third parties. The settlement was finalized last January. This agreement prohibited the two companies from sharing geolocation data or driver behavior data for five years. At the time, GM also dropped Smart Driver across its entire lineup.
The automaker has now reached settlements with the District of Columbia and 35 states after their attorneys general also came together to sue GM.
GM said in a statement that “safer, more useful and personalized experiences are enabled by connected vehicle data, and GM is committed to being clear about what information is used, how it is protected and the choices customers have about what they share.” »
According to TechCrunch, the agreement with the states is notable in that a third party is needed to assess GM’s compliance with the new privacy program.
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