Majority of New Connected Car Buyers Are Willing to Trade Personal Data for Improved Safety

Otonomo, the first neutral automotive data services platform, announced the results of a new consumer study fielded by Edison Research. In the wake of controversies involving corporate use of Americans’ personal data without their consent, American new car buyers and connected car owners are nonetheless willing to share their personal data for a safer and improved driving experience.

In a new Otonomo/Edison Research study of both connected car owners and persons in the market for a new connected car, as many as 94% expressed interest in apps and services. Approximately 80% of those who expressed interest in a number of potential new services (including real-time alerts of dangerous driving conditions, early detection of maintenance and repairs, and even faster response times from emergency responders in the event of an accident) stated a willingness to share personal automotive data in order to gain access to these capabilities.

However, consumers are still wary of sharing their data with apps and services. The most important aspects in establishing trust are how trustworthy people perceive the company is (69% of new car buyers indicated this was “very important”) and whether they are told exactly what the data are being used for and who has access to it (64% of new car buyers indicated this was “very important”).

So what types of companies engender that kind of trust? In one of the most important findings of this study, both new car buyers and connected car owners placed a significant amount of trust in car manufacturers. While trust in social media sites was relatively low (less than half of either group indicated they had confidence that social media sites would properly secure their data), confidence in car manufacturers was high—71% of new car buyers and 77% of connected car owners were confident or somewhat confident that car manufacturers would properly secure their data.

Other Key Findings

*        94% of connected car owners are interested in a feature that would alert them to dangerous driving conditions ahead. Similarly, 92% of connected-car owners are interested in a feature that would allow emergency responders to respond more quickly in the event of an accident. Finally, 92% of connected-car owners are very interested in a feature that detects needed maintenance or repairs.

*        New car buyers are similarly interested in the same safety-related features as connected car owners.

*        86% of both new car buyers and connected car owners are comfortable with navigation apps collecting information about their location, speed, and destination.

*        There is extremely high acceptance of technology in cars: approximately 90% of both samples agree that technology is making cars safer, and approximately eight in ten agree that technology is also making it more fun to drive or be a passenger.

*        Car manufacturers have earned 71- 77% trust in two key ways—for those respondents who named a specific car manufacturer as being the “most trustworthy,” the top two reasons for that trust were a tie between personal experience and good reputation.

The study’s results indicate that consumers are willing to share their personal data cautiously with organizations that demonstrate transparency and a commitment to security. “This study underscores that consumers recognize the benefits of connected car features, and are inclined to share the data that enables them with entities they trust,” says Lauren Smith, Policy Counsel, The Future of Privacy Forum. “For connected car companies to continue earning that trust, they should communicate the purposes of such data collection and use, and incorporate privacy choices and safeguards.”

According to Edison Research Senior Vice President Tom Webster, “While consumer trust in some industries is trending very low right now, car manufacturers are amongst the most trusted in terms of how they treat custome data. This paints a very compelling picture for the future capabilities of the connected car.”

Otonomo understands the high expectations around consumer trust, and introduced products and services that will orchestrate transparency to all parties. “While consumers say they want the types of services that require them to share personal data, automotive OEMs and other data collectors must take steps to earn their trust,” said Lisa Joy Rosner, Chief Marketing Officer, Otonomo. “Our study underscores the importance of clear consumer consent processes; transparency about how automotive companies are using and securing automotive data is vital to maintaining customer loyalty and trust.”

The Consent Management Hub

Recently, Otonomo announced The Consent Management Hub, the first centralized platform for automotive OEMs and third-party service providers to easily integrate and enhance connected car data privacy. The Consent Management Hub provides consumers with granular control of application permissions to limit how their data is shared as well as visibility into how their data is being used.

Otonomo-Edison Research Survey Methodology

The Otonomo-Edison Research Survey is a US online survey of 1,070 persons 18 and older. Of that total, 514 were connected car owners, and 794 planned to purchase a new car in the next year (note: there was some overlap between the two groups). Participants were recruited through Survey Sampling International using their online panel.

The data was weighted to match the most recent United States population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau for age, sex, and race.

About Otonomo

Otonomo paves the way for new apps and services that make transportation safer, more convenient, and truly rewarding. We offer the first neutral automotive data services platform, which provides simple, secure data access and transforms data into actionable insights for services such as predictive maintenance, emergency services, on-demand fueling, in-vehicle delivery, insurance, and smart cities. With a research and development center in Herzliya, Israel, and presence in the United States, Europe, and Japan, we have more than 75 partners in our ecosystem. Leading venture capital and strategic investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, Aptiv, Dell Technologies Capital, Hearst Ventures, StageOne Ventures, and Maniv Mobility.

About Edison Research

Since its founding in 1994, Edison Research has conducted over 11,000 research assignments in 38 countries. Edison works with a broad array of commercial clients, governments and NGOs, including AMC Theatres, The Brookings Institute, Disney, The Gates Foundation, Google, the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau, Oracle, Pandora, The Pew Research Center, Samsung, Siemens, SiriusXM Radio, and Univision Communications. Since 2003, Edison Research has been the sole provider of exit poll information to the National Election Poll, having conducted exit polls and collected precinct vote returns to project and analyze results for every major presidential primary and general election. This exit poll is the largest single-day survey research project in the world, collecting more than 100,000 interviews in the 2016 General Election.