Your car’s data privacy problems are worse than you think

A new study of 21 connected vehicles found that every model sent data to third-party domains and more than half reached advertising, tracking, or analytics firms, underscoring how embedded software and companion apps can quietly expand an organization’s privacy, legal, and reputational risk. For CIOs and technology leaders, the strategic takeaway is that connected products are now part of the enterprise data-governance surface: platform choices, mobile app integrations, and vendor relationships can directly shape exposure to regulators, customers, and data brokers. IT organizations will need stronger telemetry controls, consent management, third-party risk oversight, and privacy-by-design practices across vehicle software, mobile apps, and cloud integrations.