Big Brother is watching you! Imagine a world where your motorcycle tracks, records and reports your departure and arrival time, speed and GPS location. The Federation of European Motorcycle Associations (FEMA) believes that reality is fast approaching and the organization takes proactive steps to resolve potential problems.
However, FEMA isn't pulling the problem out of thin air. Automakers and lawmakers are actively considering privacy bills to protect vehicle owners' data from misuse. With autonomous, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) technologies advancing by leaps and bounds in recent years, manufacturers and consumers are handing more driving responsibilities to computers.
As a result, on-board systems constantly track the automobile's position and speed data. These metric data help interconnected ecosystems while providing valuable development feedback to improve future iterations, but storing and accessing this data can quickly become problematic. To combat abuse, several states, including California, Virginia and Colorado, have introduced new bills regulating the collection and use of this data, but FEMA wants to get a head start on this. concerns motorcycles.
Of course, many cutting-edge technologies debut in cars before trickling down to the motorcycle market. For example, Mitsubishi introduced the first adaptive cruise control in 1992, but the technology didn't debut on motorcycles until the Ducati Multistrada V4 in 2021. On the one hand, autonomous motorcycles may still be far from being put into production, but V2V and V2X technologies would certainly improve the visibility of a motorcyclist to other motorists. In turn, such features would significantly improve security.
While future technologies have benefits for some riders, privacy concerns may be a deal breaker for others. In a prepared statement, FEMA explained that “the owner of the motorcycle must control the data and be able to decide who has access to it”. For those who use computers or smart devices every day, this type of permissions-based verification is the norm.
The question of data ownership is already in play with motorcycles as well. At least one manufacturer (BMW) admitted to FEMA that data is extracted from the OBD (on-board diagnostics) system of motorcycles with maintenance and repair in BMW workshops without explicit consent or knowledge and even at the expense of the vehicle owner and be sent to and used by BMW headquarters.
Whether collecting browser cookies or accessing your phone's photo gallery, companies must seek user approval before collecting data. FEMA recently sent a letter to the European Commission stating that the same standard should apply to vehicle data. Of course, we will have to wait for the response from the European Commission in the coming months, but with autonomous, V2V and V2X technologies continuing to evolve, regulating the tracking and use of data is not just a concern for drivers.
