John Ellis, Ford’s former head of technology, identified four computers in a recent model collecting data from drivers.

Chevy, Ford Among Car Companies Exploiting Driver Info with AI

A reporter and an engineer hacked into a 2017 Chevy. And what they found will shock most but not all of you. Vehicles are loaded with computers that are gathering your info and will likely sell it several times without you knowing.

An article written by Dan Robitski for futurism.com reveals the tale: hacking into a 2017 Chevrolet for The Washington Post, tech writer Geoffrey Fowler learned that the car had been tracking his location, monitoring activity on the cell phone he had connected, and collecting other data points that it sent straight to General Motors. It’s a disturbing revelation that serves as yet another reminder that digital privacy in cars does not exist.

Massive stores of user data are incredibly valuable to tech companies and investors, and cars are just another vehicle —pardon the pun— through which they can extract it.

Everything from your driving patterns, the phone calls you make and the contacts of the people who you called are all available and being extracted by GM and others.

Vehicles are increasingly coming connected with Wi-Fi and may know more about you than you think – where you’ve been, what you’re listening to and what kind of coffee you like. All information that privacy advocates are warning may end up in the hands of advertisers or even your insurance company, reports CBS News correspondent Kris Van Cleave.

Under the hood of one car, Ford’s former head of tech John Ellis found four computers. Inside the car, he hooked up his smart phone to show the data streaming in real-time.

“With enough data, I can discern patterns that seem to be almost non-existent to the human eye,” Ellis said.

Modern vehicles don’t just have one computer. There are multiple, interconnected brains that can generate up to 25 gigabytes of data per hour from sensors all over the car.

If you have questions about your vehicle click on the links below and discover what your information means to those collecting it. It means big bucks for them in so many ways. And it could end up costing you a lot more money and privacy than you imagined.

read more at futurism.com

Four computer locations in a Ford.