While cars are getting more efficient on their own, there are many habits a driver can adopt that will increase the gas efficiency of their existing car. For example, accelerating too fast, braking too hard, and driving too fast in general can cause bad gas mileage. Automatic is a product being developed that alerts drivers to bad driving habits. The device connects to a diagnostic port in the car, and then connects to a phone over Bluetooth. My own Automatic arrived last week and I have been using it in my own car. The device has acted as expected, and has alerted me to some bad driving habits. However, there are a number of privacy concerns with this device (and other in-car monitoring devices). In my opinion, the benefits do not validate the privacy issues, and it take a major re-design for Automatic to make a safe to use device.
After receiving the device, it took less than a minute or two to connect it. Simply enter a code on your phone, plug in the device, and start the car. The interface is not very interactive. It shows some statistics for your driving patterns. It also has a map showing where you parked your car, which is helpful if you need to find it. While driving, the app makes beeping sounds for the three bad driving habits it identifies: quick acceleration; hard braking; and speeding over 70 MPH. However, the sounds are not very loud, and are sometimes difficult to hear, especially if you are playing music or if you have the air conditioning turned on. Perhaps the only attractive feature is the ability to find your car if you forgot where you parked it.
One thing that is not obvious with the Automatic is that it needs an Internet connection to work properly. However, all the functions it performs should not need the Internet. Measuring acceleration, speed, and braking is all done via sensors in the car. And detecting the car’s location is done via the phone’s GPS. Theoretically, no Internet should be needed to use this device. So why do you need a username and password login? Why does the app need an Internet connection? The answer to this is simple: Automatic is collecting data about you and sending it to the company for analysis.
If you read Automatic’s privacy policy, it says, “We use the information we collect to provide you with Automatic and to continually improve it, as described in this Privacy Policy. This includes giving you more insight into how you use your car and making the ownership experience better.” This sounds innocent enough, but if you read just below that, it says, “In an ongoing effort to better understand and serve our users, we often conduct research on our customer demographics, interests, and behavior based on the Personal Data and other information provided to us. This research may be compiled and analyzed on an aggregate basis, and we may share this aggregate data with our affiliates, agents and business partners.” In other words, Automatic is free to use your information and share it with other companies at its own discretion. To make things worse, Automatic collects a lot of information. It has your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), your GPS location while you are driving, how fast you drive, and more. All of this means a lot in the hands of your insurance company. And considering Automatic’s privacy policy allows them to “disclose your Personal Data (1) in the good faith belief that we must do so to protect the personal safety of users of our service or the public,” I would not be surprised if you saw your insurance bill go up after using this product.
Overall, I am very disappointed in Automatic, and I would not recommend anybody else to purchase this product. This serves as a warning for technology products: sometimes it is just not worth it. Whenever you buy a new device, or download a new app, always think about how useful it will actually be, and compare that against the privacy threat it poses against you. In this case, I made the wrong choice, but I am probably not alone. Most consumers do not pay enough attention to privacy when they buy new products, and this is the result.
Be First to Comment