Modern cars are enormously talented at producing gobs of information about drivers. How hard they smash the brakes, where they frequently navigate to, or even what in-car features they use the most. It makes it incredible difficult to draw a line between what portion of an automaker is a car company or a tech company.
Ford would like you to know that it won't be that difficult to tell your car to zip its mouth about driver data—if it's wearing a Blue Oval on the grille, that is.
The automaker launched its new Privacy Promise website this week that explains to owners exactly what connected vehicle information Ford collects. Depending on the model, Ford explains that it could be location data, driving characteristics, diagnostic information, and other connected data through the vehicle and Ford's smartphone app.
Ford also shares what it does with that data and (most importantly) how you, the driver, can turn data sharing off.
"Our ultimate goal is that, for someone who does not want to share any connected data with Ford at all, they can opt out and essentially create a quasi-’80s mode car," said Ford's Chief Privacy Officer, Kristin Jones, in a statement to Automotive News. "The goal is to allow people to have that old-school experience."
A car cannot simultaneously refuse to tell Ford where it is and also ask Ford to give it information relevant to the world around it (like live traffic data). That means if you choose to turn off connected navigation, internet connectivity, and location features in the Ford app, you'll lose some functionality within the car.
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