Skip to main content

Data protection - a road-block for driverless cars?

A new report by international law firm Gowling WLG warns that autonomous and connected vehicle manufacturers will need to get their head around new European data protection rules if driverless cars are to become a reality. Published just two years before Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force, the report, Are you data driven? explores the latest issues in data protection and driverless vehicles and what they mean for consumers, featuring input from leading experts across the
May 27, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
A new report by international law firm Gowling WLG warns that autonomous and connected vehicle manufacturers will need to get their head around new European data protection rules if driverless cars are to become a reality.

Published just two years before Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force, the report, Are you data driven? explores the latest issues in data protection and driverless vehicles and what they mean for consumers, featuring input from leading experts across the automotive industry.

Carried out on behalf of the UK Autodrive self-driving vehicles project, the report examines how data protection regulation developments will affect innovations in the development of driverless vehicles. This comes at an important time for the UK automotive industry as the country strives to become a global hub for the development of autonomous and connected vehicle technologies. The testing of driverless vehicles in the urban environment is due to start later this year.

Data protection presents challenges and opportunities that need to be explored and discussed as autonomous technologies become more of a feature on our highways. With only 15% of people feeling in control of their online personal data, and 80% of people not reading privacy notices, this white paper questions whether the industry is being helped or hindered by data protection regulation? And how will the General Data Protection Regulation influence the sector's progress?

Stuart Young, head of automotive at Gowling WLG, summarises the situation: "Vehicle manufacturers are going to have start thinking like social media providers - like the Google and Facebooks of this world. They will need to employ all the tools they use, like privacy notices and location-based consents, and be very aware that data protection compliance should not be taken lightly."

Related Content

  • Roadside monitoring used to target non-compliant trucks
    March 9, 2016
    The UK’s DVSA is utilising existing technology to identify non-compliant commercial vehicles and target repeat offenders while avoiding law-abiding companies. Enforcing the compliance of commercial vehicles (goods vehicles over 3.5 tonnes and vehicles with eight or more passenger seats) on the UK’s roads is the responsibility of the DVSA (the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency). The Department for Transport created the executive agency about 18 months ago by merging the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) and t
  • Europe’s road safety record suffers as austerity bites hard, say traffic police chiefs
    March 7, 2018
    Europe’s leading traffic police chiefs are struggling with the challenge of how best to manage the region’s road network in an era of austerity. Things are changing fast, and not for the better, reports Geoff Hadwick. Europe’s road safety record is under threat. Police budgets are being slashed, staff numbers are falling and a long-term trend towards ever-fewer road deaths has ground to a halt. The line on the graph has flat-lined. Does Europe’s road network face a far more dangerous future? Lower and
  • Survey - majority of people would be reluctant to be a passenger in a driverless car
    May 27, 2016
    According to a survey carried out by ICM Unlimited on behalf of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 55 per cent of the 2002 people surveyed said they were unlikely to want to be a passenger of a driverless car, with 40 per cent saying they were very unlikely to want to be a passenger. Just 21 per cent said they would be happy to ride in a driverless vehicle. Philippa Oldham, head of Transport and Manufacturing at the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, said: “The benefits of driverless vehicle tech
  • ANPR - cost-efficient traffic management, enforcement and more
    January 23, 2012
    Geoff Collins of Vysionics Intelligent Traffic Solutions talks about the near-term prospects of ANPR. The continued absence of a champion for its cause is preventing digital enforcement technology from delivering the true levels of cost-effectiveness of which it is capable, according to Geoff Collins, sales and marketing director of ANPR specialist Vysionics Intelligent Traffic Solutions.