We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Car website. However, if you would like to, you can change your cookies at any time
The start point for the best source of fleet information |
BMW is taking the security of data gathered via its ConnectedDrive system so seriously it won't even let business car managers access data on fleet vehicles, according to the company's head of ConnectedDrive, Stefan Ponikva.
Speaking to BusinessCar at the Geneva motor show last month, Ponikva said BMW sides with Apple on the issue of user information security. His comments follow the recent case in the USA where the FBI asked Apple to let it read the information on a customer's mobile phone.
Ponikva said: "If the FBI came to us we would say 'no' to any access, and we have had no enquiries like this so far. If we had a case like Apple does, we would go to the Supreme Court."
Commenting on who owns the data gathered by a car, Ponikva said: "BMW owns the data and the customer decides to connect or disconnect. In the future we will see what type of role we have to play with the government. As you know, there are discussions in that area.
However, it is very important to us that we do not give the data to anyone else. Nobody will gain this data."
He added the information gathered by the car is encrypted and anonymised in most cases; the only time it is visible is either when the driver chooses to make it available to a third party, or in the case of an emergency through the eCall system to let the emergency services know the location of the vehicle.
The message comes despite the fact that the next generation of ConnectedDrive will be increasingly useful to business drivers. Ponikva claimed the system would act, in effect, like a personal assistant with near-artificial-intelligence capabilities.
He said ConnectedDrive would be able to direct you to empty parking spaces; connect to your phone, which would mean it could then alert you if congestion means that you need to set off early for a meeting; and be able to update (over the air) parts of the car that traditionally have only been possible with new hardware.
He said that the functionality would be developed around drivers and not around fleets because of data security issues and the potential for a breach.
BusinessCar magazine ©2019
Business Car Magazine © 2020 | Business Car is part of NS Media Group.
