Skip to main content

Digital Single Market: FIA demands data protection regulation for connected cars

The European Parliament is to adopt the ‘Towards a Digital Single Market Act’ as a follow-up to the digital single market strategy for Europe presented by the Commission. The report emphasises the need for the EU to embrace the potential of the information and communications technology (ICT) sector to digitise the industry and maintain global competitiveness. Jacob Bangsgaard, FIA Region I director general said: “Mobility-related applications will in the coming years have a tremendous impact on the way
January 20, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The European Parliament is to adopt the ‘Towards a Digital Single Market Act’ as a follow-up to the digital single market strategy for Europe presented by the Commission. The report emphasises the need for the EU to embrace the potential of the information and communications technology (ICT) sector to digitise the industry and maintain global competitiveness.

Jacob Bangsgaard, 8054 FIA Region I director general said: “Mobility-related applications will in the coming years have a tremendous impact on the way we move, navigate and get informed during our travels. It is essential that European legislation on data protection ensures that we retain the ownership of personal data also when this data is collected by the transport mode we use. Consumers should always have the possibility to choose their preferred service provider, and not be trapped within a certain ecosystem of one provider.

“We invite the EU to use the Digital Single Market as an opportunity to define robust data protection regulation ensuring that consumers fully benefit from the connected world. We should always make sure that the citizens decide by whom and under which conditions their personal data can be used.”

Within the legislation, FIA Region I especially welcomes the European Parliament’s call to “develop a coordinated strategy on connectivity in the transport sector and, in particular, to establish a regulatory framework for connected vehicles to ensure interoperability with different services, including remote diagnostics and maintenance, and applications in order to uphold fair competition and to satisfy a strong need for products which comply with cyber-security and data protection requirements, but also to ensure the physical security of passengers”.

FIA Region I’s My Car My Data campaign is currently being carried out throughout Europe, based on a technical test and public survey on connected cars. FIA says the results of these enquiries indicate a clear disconnect in what is being tracked and what citizens are willing to accept when it comes to car data. It claims that not only strong data protection, but informed consent and free choice of service providers need to be addressed.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • European data security agency focuses on public transportation cyber security
    February 15, 2016
    In the light of the trend towards smart cities, the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA) has released a report on smart cities and their intelligent public transportation (IPT) systems. The report, Cyber Security and Resilience of Intelligent Public Transport, focuses on the protection of the assets critical to IPT in the context of smart cities. These assets are considered critical as they contribute to the normal operation of local public transport networks, including metr
  • Evidence growing for distance-based charging
    January 18, 2012
    The case is growing for an alternative to fuel taxation for funding highway infrastructure. A more sustainable system of mileage-based charging can be established in a way that is acceptable to the travelling public, writes Jack Opiola. Fuel tax - the lifeblood relied on for 80 years to maintain and improve roads and transit systems - is now in considerable jeopardy in the United States. Increased vehicle fuel efficiency and a poor economy already hamper generation of fuel tax revenue; now a recent federal
  • Investment and innovation the future of ITS
    January 31, 2012
    Cisco's Paul Brubaker, former administrator of the US Department of Transportation's (USDOT's) Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), takes a look at how the ITS sector is starting to attract the attention of major corporations and what this will mean for intelligent transportation in the coming years
  • The cloud - the future of in-car telematics?
    February 28, 2013
    Fiat Chrysler product concept and infotainment director Pierpaolo Tona told the conference that the big car manufacturers need to organise their telematics approach around three key pillars – and the first one of those is people. “OEMs need to understand consumers and their needs better than they understand them themselves,” he commented. The second pillar, suggested Tona, is technology. “Technology is never for the sake of it. Choose the right technology with the right performance to fulfil every consumer’