Your car is a smartphone on wheels. Here's who's listening. The first large-scale measurement study of the connected-vehicle ecosystem. A connected car is a vehicle with built-in internet access — Wi-Fi, cellular, GPS — that lets it communicate constantly with its manufacturer and outside companies. Over 75% of vehicles sold globally have this connectivity built-in.
Report Summary: Partnering with Consumer Reports, we tested 21 late model vehicles and 30 companion mobile apps to understand the privacy implications of the connected vehicle ecosystem. We find that both vehicles and companion apps contact numerous third-party domains, including advertisers and trackers. 19/21 vehicles tested send traffic to at least one third party. Seven of 30 apps transmit sensitive identifiers to third-party companies.
We go through a lengthy disclosure process and provide insight into how manufacturers perceive this data sharing issue. Our findings underscore the need for continued measurement and scrutiny of the connected vehicle ecosystem. Consumer Reports gave the team access to its purchased fleet of test vehicles — a sample that would have cost over $1.2M to assemble independently.
The Research Team: We are a team of privacy, security, and networking-systems researchers at Northeastern University. This work is peer reviewed and will be published at IMC '26.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing