Your car is collecting more data about you than you think

Northeastern researchers tested 21 vehicles and their accompanying mobile apps to investigate what data manufacturers are collecting Major car manufacturers are sharing driver’s personal information to third party companies and data brokers, new Northeastern University research shows.

But Northeastern researchers were interested in conducting a wider-scale analysis of cars on the road today, he said.

From there, the researchers identified that the companies were sending personal information, including VIN numbers, email addresses and even location data.

Adobe Analytics, Axiom, a third party data broker, and ContentSquare, an analytics company were among the most contacted third parties that were sent personal information.

In response to the researcher’s findings, some automakers made changes when presented with the data, the researchers said.