How are modern cars becoming digital gadgets or from "wearables" to "drivables". How much your car knows about you?

Do you know that certain data is openly accessible to car manufacturers and shared with 3rd parties? Do you unconsciously decide to grant sure their access to your personal data even if you may have generally had a notion that it isn't being shared?

Where Wearable technology is efficiently transforming our lives through smartwatches, health tracking bands, and even smart clothes, the automotive industry didn't suffer the loss too. After years of effort, automakers like Ford, Volkswagen, Fiat Chrysler.

Automobiles finally managed to incorporate technology yielding smart cars through either collaboration with tech equipped firms or partnerships on particular projects; the automotive industry is the most data-driven industry in the world where intelligent vehicles collect data about drivers, destinations, routes, traffic patterns anticipating major cybersecurity concerns which I will address in this article.

Wearable technology and auto motives

As Ford plans to use Wearable technology to build smarter cars, I perceive that for integrating wearable technology into our lifestyles a little more, tech experts are putting in the effort to embed wearable devices in vehicles.

For instance, NISMO Watch displays Nissan's intent to gather biometric data that enhances driver performance and efficiency. Nissan is investigating heart and brain monitoring technologies for future wearable tech. Hence it is not wrong to say that your vehicle is your heaviest wearable.

Gary Strumolo, global manager for vehicle design, Ford Research, and Advanced Engineering, said, "Wearable technology integrated with the vehicle allows for more accurate biometric data to stream continuously and alert active driver-assist systems to become more sensitive if the driver shows signs of compromised health or awareness.

Drivable, What does it mean?

Drivable is the term I use to describe cars embedded with wearable technology with built-in sensors and up to 100 million lines of code. Currently, there are two types of drivable being discussed in the market, namely autonomous and connected vehicles.

A vehicle that has connected technology allowing it connects to different  devices within the car, but also to networks like the internet, allowing it to "communicate" to its surrounding infrastructure and other vehicles.

While much fewer human beings drove in 2020 because of the pandemic, NHTSA’s early estimates display that an envisioned 38,680 human beings died in motor car visitor crashes—the biggest number of fatalities.

This represents a growth of approximately 7.2 percent in comparison to the 36,096 fatalities mentioned in 2019. As claimed with the aid of using the manufacturers, Connected car technologies make using more secure as their protection programs will permit drivers to have 360-diploma consciousness of dangers and conditions which aren’t in motive force’s sight. Through in-automobile warnings, drivers can be alerted to upcoming crash conditions, including merging trucks, automobiles within the motive force's blindside, or while a car in advance brakes suddenly.

 Image Source — theiotmagazine.com

By speaking with roadside infrastructure, drivers can be alerted while they're getting into a college zone if human beings are at the roadside, etc. Substantial paintings are being carried out to assure that those motive force warnings will now no longer be a distraction and that human beings will most effectively be made conscious while they're drawing close danger.

According to MaRS, "the connected car, together with connected media services, is capable of learning and predicting the user's wants, needs, and entertainment preferences".

That means personalizing driving experience is crucial in the age of ever-diminishing need for a human driver. This is where IoT comes into play. By tirelessly collecting data, your connected car will be able to distinguish between different drivers as soon as they sit.

Aside from preset music stations, temperature, and seat adjustments, the connected car will also be able to deliver navigation tailored to the driver, with the system getting “smarter” as it learns preferences.

But, the risk associated with interconnected applications is that unauthorized access to one, especially with privileged credentials, can lead to access to others, a perfect scenario for the fraudster.

Vehicle Connectivity is the Foundation of Autonomous Vehicles. Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) generation permit the auto to speak with different vehicles and infrastructure, like site visitors lights.

The development of independent cars calls for change and evaluation of a large amount of information. This consists of technical statistics, along with the speed, function, and standing of vehicle systems. However, a number of its miles greater personal, together with the driver's modern function, in which they stay and work, and their biometrics, along with coronary heart fee and alertness. All these statistics might want to be saved and broadcasted, posing a protection danger as connectivity widens the assault floor for hackers.

 Image Source – newsecuritybeat.org

Are automakers sharing my personal data?

To tell you the truth, maximum information is captured, saved, and transmitted without specific consent; however, here's a proposed listing of the information that may be received out of your vehicle and shared as a proper with the aid of using producers to commercial enterprise partners.

• Car registration records (together with final call, first call, middle, initial, maiden call(s), domestic address, email, phone, zip code, employment reputation with a call of an employer, charge records of registration proprietor in addition to the licensee. Lending organization call).
• Driver's license and different identity numbers (together with vehicle ownership, Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), registration code number, license type, final pronounced odometer mileage).
• Birth date, age of proprietor, and birthplace.
• Spouse records, marital status, and childhood records.
• Financial records (as said above re: licensee), clinical emergency records, driver’s incapacity records.
• Law enforcement records, employment records, and academic association records (associated to (unique parking permits & licensing) before we take a seat down in at the Deep Web information (wherein 96% of the alternative net information resides), it's miles critical to understand what records may be received out of your vehicle which could put in effect predominant protection challenges. They won't be sharing too dangerous events at once; however, as soon as the information is in IoT, it's miles vulnerable.

Image Source – kaspersky.com

Car Hacking, is it real?

Yes, of course. Professor Thomas says that all the sensors in the vehicles are potential “attack vectors”-a hacker's entry point. He added:

"The data in the vehicle itself is a sensitive spot.

So, for example, someone could corrupt the mapping data or the data embedded in the machine learning system, leading to a very effective cyber-attack. This would probably affect all vehicles in a fleet and could lie undetected for a long time." This sort of attack would take a great deal of planning and funding."

A valuable case study held by Jim Mason, a forensic engineer with ARCCA, accessed and downloaded the contents of the car's infotainment computer. Just plugging a smartphone into a car could put your data at risk. If you're selling your car or returning a lease or rental, take the time to delete the data saved on its infotainment system.

Advice for the safety of auto manufacturers

In this context, we asked executives at the industry round table about the five golden rules for establishing and maintaining customer trust. Here is the answer they gave:

• Never use data for your customers; only use it in your service. The frequency of interaction is critical because customers don't want to be bothered by constant questions or suggestions.
• By simply accepting the "Terms", clarity and instructions are provided as to what data should be used and how to use it (for example, anonymity or personalization).
• Do not use your data or allow it to be abused by potential third parties, actively promote data security and respect for privacy, and clarify "legal issues".
• Allow customers to choose what to share and what not to share and for what purpose (i.e., Customers need to control their data); regularly remind customers to check communication settings. Provide the collected data to customers.

Advice for the safety of automobile buyers

Clear your data before selling your vehicle, returning to your rental agreement, or leaving your rental or car repair station. Easily delete your personal data from the vehicle. Download the free Privacy4Cars application. The application called Privacy4Cars has addresses for different models.

Conclusion

Manufacturers know the immense importance of safety and data protection, so they are constantly looking for promising advances in the digital revolution that the automotive industry continues to advance. These far-reaching changes have brought inherent problems to every industry. The digital revolution in the automotive industry goes far beyond these challenges. Call it a wild sci-fi fantasy, but the smart portable car has already been set to revolutionize our autonomous driving experience forever.

Feel free to leave a message with us if you have any suggestions for modern cars that have become digital gadgets that we might have missed out on, or you want me to put my hands on any specific stuff.