While telematics continues to be a prominent topic in the aftermarket industry (see my April 2015 Editor’s Note, “The ongoing telematics discussion” for more), it’s been pushed more by key aftermarket industry groups that OEs play nice by allowing access to the information gathered from the ever-increasing data collected on vehicles.
Until now.
In a push to become more visible and a priority to consumers, the automotive aftermarket, led by the Auto Care Association, has long held that the owner of the vehicle owns the vehicle’s data. Now, there is a focus to get the vehicle owner more involved.
When a consumer purchases a vehicle, they’re likely unaware of all of the data being emitted from that vehicle at any given time. Once the consumer is privy to this information, they’re under the impression that the data their vehicle transmits belongs to the purchaser (e.g. the vehicle owner). But that’s not the case presently. For vehicles with Internet connection capabilities (e.g. that handy touchscreen dashboard interface), all of this data is being transmitted and collected by the auto manufacturer — everything from vehicle performance to driver behavior.
In a world with cloud computing, smart phones and the continuing evolution of all things digital, both the amount of data collected and the concerns for how this information will be used continues to grow.
There’s good reason to educate consumers about this data and to get involved in the discussion over who owns and has access to this data, especially when it comes to aftermarket repair shops. Consumers dictate when and where their vehicle is serviced.
“Vehicle owners own the data being generated by their vehicles and they should be able to use that data to direct the service of their vehicles to the location of their choice,” say officials with the Telematics Task Force (www.aftermarkettaskforce.org).
“If alerts to vehicle owners and the supporting technical information necessary to repair the vehicle are available to both franchised dealers and independent vehicle service providers, the vehicle owner gains value in their ownership experience.”
The question now is, how can the industry—and, aftermarket shops specifically —push consumers to act?
