Mercedes has had to admit that it has the ability to track your car and has even done so in some cases.
Mercedes Benz uses location sensors to locate in the event of an accident, to retrieve vehicles whose owners have not paid. The phenomenon that published by the newspaper SUN, raises privacy concerns.
Location sensors are installed in most new vehicles in Europe and are used in the event of a collision. But the German luxury car brand has sometimes activated these trackers to be able to find and get back cars that their owners did not pay for.
A representative of Mercedes told CNN Business that drivers when signing finance agreements agree to be monitored by Mercedes and that this measure is taken to track a car only if their customers breach conditions of the contract.
Mercedes' use of tracking has sparked a debate about privacy. A former British minister, David Davis, questioned the use of the sensors and called the British government to consider the matter.
From March 2018 all new cars and light trucks produced in the European Union must be equipped with eCall, a device that can transmit data, including the position of a vehicle, to assistance services in the event of a collision.
The European Parliament said that the automatic call would provide emergency services with "at least only rudimentary data, such as the type of vehicle, the fuel used, the time of the accident, the exact location and the number of passengers" and that the system remains inactive until a serious one occurs accident.
But Mercedes' admission that it tracks its vehicles for personal use raises many questions. First of all, it shares this information with third parties after you declare your inability payments, it then detects your location and sends it along with your identification information to companies that will undertake the recovery of the car.
Secondly, as cars today contain more and more electronic devices and sensors that reach up to the level of a computer, they can have incredible information about you. They include sensors for the navigation system, including GPS and special cameras that read road signals.
In addition, they contain modems for wireless communication to and from the car for the convenience of passengers and for calling first aid in case of collision. Sensors that warn you of blind spots, that you are staying in your lane, advanced speed control, are also features of new vehicles.
And don't forget that in order to be able to have the hands-free features of new cars, they must also have internal cameras to make sure the vehicle is not distracting you. This means the technology is there to be able to see who is driving.
If your smart speakers can accept your verbal commands and use these recordings to train their system (AI), then such advanced systems are capable of making other types of recordings.
Future technology is going to extend this feature to all car brands and models. The addition of a 5G wireless network allows real-time data sharing, from and anywhere in the world, including the automaker's cloud servers.
Apparently you can not get away from it. Even if you are not worried about your current car, your next one is sure to know everything about you.
