Self-driving cars collect data silently, right under people’s noses.
Since 2017, these autonomous cars owned by Chinese companies have been traveling around different cities and capturing their surroundings on video.
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The cars are part of a California state program that allows companies to develop autonomous driving technology, according to Fortune.
The vehicles are said to capture video of their surroundings as well as map roads to within two centimeters.
It was revealed that 35 companies have been approved to use these cars, including seven companies based in China.
Organizations such as WeRide, Apollo, AutoX, Pony.ai and DiDi Research America are one of the many companies participating in the program.
Information from cars will need to be transferred to a data center, where they can use it to create better autonomous driving systems.
However, experts like Matthew Guariglia, a policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights nonprofit, believe that autonomous driving could be a “mobile surveillance device.”
He believes that equipment that comes with cars, such as cameras, microphones and sensors, could easily be used to collect information about Americans in plain sight.
Last year alone, these cars traveled 2.8 million kilometers in California alone.
Since the cars were launched, it has been revealed that some self-driving cars have already begun storing US data in China, making it accessible to the government, according to privacy policies reviewed by the publication.
However, despite the sensitive nature of the information, no state or federal agency is monitoring the data collected.
“This is literally the Wild Wild West,” said Craig Singleton, director of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
“There is no one in charge.”
Other experts agree with many who believe the United States is too lax with data security rules — especially when it comes to advanced technology.
“We simply don’t have a government right now that has the technical expertise — across all agencies — to address autonomous functionality as well as data privacy and cybersecurity,” said Missy Cummings, an engineering professor at George Mason University.
What is a connected car?
A connected car is a vehicle with Internet access, which allows sharing of devices inside and outside the car.
The Internet comes from mobile data networks that can be accessed through smartphones or other devices.
The purpose of the car is to receive and transmit information while keeping the car running at all times.
credit: Wejo
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