GM agrees to pay $220 million over sale of drivers' data to brokers and insurers
The settlement obliges GM to narrow the driving data it collects and to obtain explicit consent before collecting any of it.
General Motors will pay $220 million to close out a complaint brought by a 36-member coalition of US state attorneys general over its handling of driver information. Regulators allege GM gathered acceleration, braking and trip-length data through its Smart Driver program, then sold it to data brokers, who passed it to insurers that used it to raise premiums. Drivers were reportedly never told they had been enrolled or that their information was being collected. Under the settlement GM must narrow what driving data it gathers and secure explicit permission from drivers before collecting it. The payment follows an earlier $12.75 million settlement GM reached in California over similar allegations, and the Smart Driver program has since been shut down.
Why it matters
For drivers, the settlement means a company that collected driving behaviour without telling them must now ask first and collect less. The allegation that the data reached insurers and raised premiums means the case also shows how driving information gathered in a vehicle can end up in decisions about the cost of cover. The $12.75 million California settlement reached months earlier suggests the complaints were not isolated, and the shutdown of the Smart Driver program means the practice has already stopped, so the change is largely about what GM and similar makers may gather going forward.
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