General Motors Discontinues Smart Driver Program Amidst Privacy Concerns

General Motors Discontinues Smart Driver Program Amidst Privacy Concerns

General Motors has announced the discontinuation of its OnStar Smart Driver program in all of its vehicles. This decision comes in response to concerns raised about privacy violations and the sharing of user information with data analytics companies LexisNexis and Verisk.

Smart Driver users will be unenrolled from the program, and the software will be removed from GM vehicles. LexisNexis and Verisk shared personal data with insurance companies as part of the Smart Driver program. Some GM vehicle owners were unaware that they had consented to the program or that their insurance rates might have increased because of it.

Detailed information on drivers’ habits and activity, including rapid accelerations and hard braking, was used to create a risk score for insurance companies to use as a factor in creating “more personalized insurance coverage,” according to LexisNexis spokesman Dean Carney.

Smart Driver, which was advertised as an optional service, had users who were unaware they were signed up for it, according to the New York Times. GM said it is working on “enhanced privacy controls” aimed at greater transparency but did not disclose further details on how those controls will operate.

The Smart Driver program was intended to help drivers reduce wear and tear on their vehicles and encourage safer driving. It provided data and monthly reports related to total miles driven for trips, hard braking incidents, late-night drives, and more.

Prior to GM’s discontinuation of the program, vehicle owners wary of the program began informing each other on multiple online forums to make sure they disabled Smart Driver. This action was taken due to concerns about the potential for their insurance rates to increase as a result of the data collected by the program.