Tesla's data from a ride in one of their cars was startling


1. Wow. Our cars can know a lot about us. The data recorders in the Model S knew the temperature settings in the car, the battery level throughout the trip, the car's speed from minute to minute, and the exact route taken -- down to the fact that the car reviewer drove circles in a parking lot when the car's battery was almost dead. Tesla claimed NYT reviewer John Broder was trying to kill the car, while Broder said he was driving in circles to locate a hard-to-find charger in the dark.

2. Even with all that data, what actually happened is still unclear. As security expert Bruce Schneier put it, "even intense electronic surveillance of the actions of a person in an enclosed space did not succeed in providing an unambiguous record of what happened." (Not just intense but secret: Other journalists who have driven Tesla cars were shocked to find out they had been monitored without disclosures from the company.)



Tesla's annotated data on when Broder was running the heater

Tesla says it only secretly monitors journalists (because it distrusts them) and that its normal customers are informed and give consent to having their data monitored. A spokesman told me last year that Tesla cars'  "wireless communication system allows the vehicle to send information to Tesla Service using cell phone signals. For the owner's privacy, Tesla offers the ability to disable and enable this feature via the touch screen located in the center console of the vehicle. When an owner takes delivery of their vehicle they are offered a consent form. Only if they sign it is Tesla able to remotely access data.”


Tesla customers aren't going to be the only ones who have to think about this kind of driving data collection. "Black boxes" are in 85% of new cars each year to capture information about the few seconds before and after a crash. But why not have them collect more information? Data is useful after all. The Department of Transportation wants cars to go wireless so they'll be able to "talk" to each other to prevent crashes. Drivers might like to have it to find out how to maximize gas efficiency or to improve their driving. And it will of course be inevitable when cars are driven by computers, something Google and others are quickly making a reality with the development of the driverless car. Says Bruce Schneier:


Will data be used against you to void your warranty, rate your driving, by your divorcing spouse, in a criminal case? The Notorious B.I.G. might sum this up with, "Mo' data, mo' problems."
