Business
Who owns the data your connected car collects?
At 8:17 every morning, a connected car leaves an apartment complex in Mumbai and heads to the owner’s office. Its systems record the route, travel time and the location where it is parked. Most evenings, it makes the same journey home. That is the routine, but there are deviations. On Tuesdays, the car stops at a particular neighbourhood before heading home. On Saturday mornings, it makes a short trip to a gym. Once every few weeks, it spends an evening at a hospital. The car, by and by, builds a picture of the person behind the wheel—and itself. Location, speed, braking, acceleration, vehicle health, charging or fuel patterns and, depending on the vehicle and services enabled, even interactions inside the cabin all generate data. One data point may reveal little. However, thousands of them, collected over months, can reveal a lot about a person on the road. That raises questions about data privacy and monetisation. If your car can generate a detailed picture of your life, how much control do you have of it? Who else can get hold of that information and use it? Live Events For Ram Prasad, who runs a 10-truck transport fleet outside Pune, the answer is simple. His trucks generate information about where they are, how they are driven and how they are performing. He uses it to identify inefficient routes, monitor driving patterns and anticipate maintenance. Prasad is not selling that data. He is using it to run his business better. That distinction is at the heart of the emerging automotive data economy. The value of vehicle data can begin with a fleet operator using it to reduce fuel costs, prevent breakdowns and improve utilisation. But would it end up in automakers selling that information? For as connected cars spread, possible users are multiplying: insurers, financiers, used-car platforms, charging companies and technology firms. The car is becoming more than a machine that transports its owner. It is becoming a continuously operating data-generating device. DRIVEN BY DATA Traditional automotive data largely describes the car at the point of sale: model, variant, mileage, etc. Connected-car data tells the story after the car leaves the showroom: where it goes, how it is driven, when it needs servicing and, for an EV, how its battery is used and charged. That gives automakers something they have historically lacked: a continuous view of the vehicle over its life. Automakers are already building services around that relationship. Hyundai’s Bluelink app offers vehicle diagnostics and other connected features; Kia’s platform includes remote diagnostics; and Maruti Suzuki has expanded its embedded telematics system Maruti Connect, which offers driving analytics report and live tracking, into some mass-market vehicles. Tata Motors’ iRA platform provides vehicle location, trip information, vehicle status, driving scores and vehicle-health information. The scale is changing rapidly. Around 45% of new passenger vehicles sold in India in 2025 had embedded cellular connectivity, with factory-installed SIMs and modems. It was only 37% in 2024, according to Counterpoint Research, and could rise to about 85% by 2030. “India is catching up quickly,” says Abhilash Gupta, senior analyst, Counterpoint Research. By 2030, India could become the world’s third largest connected car market, after China and the US, he says. More connected cars do not automatically mean more revenue. “Selling a connected car creates an opportunity for subscription revenue, but does not guarantee it,” says Ravi Bhatia, president of automotive research firm Jato Dynamics. The opportunity, he says, lies in three areas: consumers paying for services such as remote access and security alerts; manufacturers using data to improve diagnostics, products and aftersales; and permission-based services involving fleets, insurers, charging providers and other partners. Gupta also says connected-car revenue is concentrated in a few services like safety, security and remote functions. WHERE’S THE MONEY? For manufacturers, the first challenge is to get customers to pay for services. Most connected-car services are offered free for an initial period, delaying the test of whether owners will pay to renew. Kia Connect has got over 100,000 paid renewals after a three-year free period, offering an early indication that some will pay. The data itself is a product. The Hyundai Vehicle Digital Passport, for instance, brings together information such as accident history, service records, warranty information, fault alerts and driving behaviour in a comprehensive report positioned for use when buying or selling a vehicle. It costs `399 per quarter for customers who have a Bluelink subscription which, again, costs `1,999 a year after a free three-year period. For insurers, data on driving behaviour can be very valuable. “Crash severity, speed and braking can help insurers strengthen fraud controls,” says Gaurav Arora, chief commercial lines and motor (underwriting and claims), ICICI Lombard. The number of kilometres driven, frequency of trips, time of travel, geography, harsh braking, acceleration and other patterns can give insurers an individualised picture of risk. India’s insurance regulator has permitted pay-as-you-drive and pay-how-you-drive products—motor insurance models that depend on usage, the distance you travel and how safely you drive—and insurers have begun experimenting with them. But adoption remains limited, with many products relying on mobile apps or odometer readings. Connected vehicles could change that. Crash severity, speed, braking and the sequence of events can potentially be transmitted in real time, allowing insurers to respond faster, reconstruct accidents and strengthen fraud controls. “The biggest gap is the absence of a standardised telematics format across OEMs,” says Arora. Different data formats make integration difficult and expensive. For Puneet Gupta, director, S&P Global Mobility, the bigger issue is finding use cases customers will pay for. “Data is a goldmine, but everything cannot be monetised,” he says. Commercial fleet customers will be more willing to pay because the economic benefits—lower downtime, better utilisation and lower operating costs—are easier to demonstrate. That is why the fleet is already a data business. Magenta Mobility operates more than 2,000 electric three- and four-wheelers. Its connected vehicles can generate data roughly every 15 seconds, covering location, distance, speed, state of battery charge, energy consumption, charging behaviour, utilisation, vehicle health and fault indicators. Its founder Maxson Lewis says the important question is not how much data a vehicle generates but “how you track, structure, interpret and use that data”. For Magenta, the value is immediate: better fleet utilisation, optimised charging, improved energy efficiency and early detection of maintenance problems. The same information could eventually have value outside the fleet. Insurers could use aggregated driving data for risk modelling; financiers could assess asset utilisation and residual-value risk after a lease ends; OEMs could improve vehicle and battery design; charging companies could understand infrastructure demand. “The industry will gradually move from thinking of connected vehicles simply as assets equipped with telematics to data-generating economic assets,” Lewis says. KEEP TRACK The commercial question leads to privacy—to consent, ownership, customer control and cybersecurity. Under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, information that identifies or relates to an individual constitutes personal data. It could include location history linked to a driver, driving patterns and voice commands. “The consumer should be able to understand what personal information is being collected, why it is collected, how long it is kept, who it is shared with and how they can withdraw consent,” says Nikhil Narendran, partner, Trilegal. Consent cannot simply become a blanket licence for every future use. “If data collected to provide navigation or vehicle diagnostics is later used for advertising or to train an AI model, that is a very different purpose and may require a separate consent,” says Narendran. This matters because connected-car data can travel beyond the original purpose. AUTO COLLECT Hyundai’s published privacy policy says it may collect data on distance of trips, vehicle locations, speed, mileage, braking and acceleration. It also says that when voice-recognition features are used, voice and text queries may be collected and even voices of others in the vehicle when commands are being given. Mahindra’s manual for its electric SUV BE 6 says telematics information may be transmitted for maintenance, troubleshooting, vehicle-quality evaluation, research, charging reminders and software updates. It also sets out circumstances in which information may be disclosed, with consent, to specified affiliates or service providers. Suzuki Connect’s material says the telematics unit cannot be switched off and that data is stored on the company’s servers. ET sent questions to Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Hyundai Motor India, MG Motor India and Mahindra & Mahindra on their connected-vehicle data practices, including what they collect, how consent is obtained and whether data is shared or monetised. The companies did not respond at the time of going to press. KNOW YOUR CAR Data will become part of a car’s history—and will lead to many use cases. A verified record of servicing, accidents, mileage and vehicle health could reduce the information gap between buyers and sellers in the used-car market. In EVs, battery health is particularly important and so the battery is a significant component of a vehicle’s value. Financing is another emerging use case. Battery-linked ownership and rental models require lenders and manufacturers to understand how an EV has been used over the years. However, the economics will ultimately depend on whether customers see enough value in sharing the information. A fleet operator may readily share vehicle data as it lowers costs. A private driver may be less willing to share years of location history for a small insurance discount. A used-car buyer may welcome a verified battery-health report while questioning why the same company needs access to past journeys. That makes transparency as important as technology. “Customers should understand what information is collected, who can access it, which uses are optional and what stops working when a subscription expires,” says Bhatia. The connected car is creating a new kind of automotive asset: not just the vehicle, but the stream of information it produces. While your car may sit in the driveway, the data it collects does not stay in one place. It can inform an insurance premium, help value a used EV, guide a fleet manager, or improve a vehicle that has not yet been built. The question is no longer whether your car is collecting data. It is who gets to turn that data into value, and whether you get a say in it. Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now! (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
Economic Times·4 hours ago·9 min read
