California regulators said they’ll review automakers’ data-privacy practices to ensure they’re complying with state law around the collection and use of consumer information from connected vehicles.

The California Privacy Protection Agency, formed in 2020 upon passage of Proposition 24, the California Privacy Rights Act, will conduct the review to ensure manufacturers are adhering to the state’s consumer-privacy law, which passed in 2018.

As California’s policy-making is often followed by other states, the inquiry could lead to such reviews across the country or nationally.

Connected vehicles use sensors and other technologies to “communicate” with other vehicles, infrastructure and pedestrians, thus sharing data with devices inside and outside the vehicle. Privacy advocates say they can therefore compromise consumers’ personal information.

“Modern vehicles are effectively connected computers on wheels. They’re able to collect a wealth of information via built-in apps, sensors, and cameras, which can monitor people both inside and near the vehicle,” said CPPA Executive Director Ashkan Soltani in a press release announcing the review.

The state’s consumer-privacy law gives Californians the right to know the personal information businesses collect about them, along with the right to delete the information and stop businesses from sharing or selling it.

California, with more than 35 million registered vehicles – nearly as many as residents – has a big stake in the review’s findings.

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