By: Maria Williams
Unbeknownst to many, virtually everything people do today generates data. This is also true if they drive a vehicle. Connected cars and other smart devices record an abundance of data with every trip, such as routes taken, average speed, traffic conditions, vehicle parameters, and many more.
As a result, each motorist holds a unique treasure trove of data. Many companies, such as car manufacturers, dealerships, and insurance providers, profit from this data, using it for their own purposes and often selling it to marketing agencies and other third parties for significant sums.
To prevent the misuse of private data, laws, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) have been passed. However, motorists themselves are still left out of the equation. Although they are legal data owners, motorists do not have complete control of their data and are unable to financially benefit from it.
Furthermore, many motorists are also unaware of the environmental impact of their car use, such as the greenhouse gas emissions each time they go for a drive, as well as their contribution to traffic congestion.
The automotive data management platform MyAutoData (MAUD) seeks to empower consumers concerning their vehicle-related data, giving them control over this extremely valuable resource they hold. It acts as a digital data vault, which only the motorist has the key to. This gives the motorist complete control over who can access their data and under what conditions. This includes purchase/leasing contracts, insurance policies, vehicle repair invoices, trip/driving behavior data, and customer experience and satisfaction. Initially founded in Germany, MAUD is expanding its operations and headquarters to the US market, where 92% of American households own at least one vehicle.
According to MAUD founder Manfred Heiss, he initially created the technology as a way to organize paper documents and digital data for his car and motorcycle. He later realized the importance of data security and the economic potential held by the data, which is why he set out to empower the most important piece of the puzzle – the consumer.
The digital data vault is a GDPR and CCPA-compliant, encrypted area where motorists can privately store data on several of their vehicles, including motorcycles and four-wheelers. The vault stores static data – vehicle specs, contracts, demographics, etc., the customer experience, and dynamic data, such as location data and driving behavior, including telematics data. An AI and machine learning application on the user’s smartphone then gathers and collates all the data while driving.
MAUD does not sell or give access to others without the user’s consent. Users can view, analyze, and forecast their vehicle costs and usage through a convenient and detailed data dashboard. The dashboard also helps users be more aware of their vehicle’s carbon footprint, including the impact of each trip they take.
“We want to create a solution that makes people more conscious about their vehicle usage’s environmental impact,” he says. “Short trips, for instance, consume more fuel per kilometer since the engine is still cold. If motorists are aware of their driving behavior or habits, they could adapt to choose either a more environmentally friendly or cost-efficient method of transportation, depending on their needs.”
In a pilot test with a city in Germany, MAUD helped traffic authorities gain access to fresh and real-time data from motorists in their city as a basis for new mobility strategies, traffic optimization, and environmental improvements.
To meet this demand for data, MAUD’s consumer-to-business (C2B) marketplace allows millions of member drivers to securely and anonymously contribute data that enables various organizations to gain insights on customer needs and behavior, helping them identify new digital business models or mobility strategies. In the C2B market, consumers looking for products, such as tires or insurance, can request offers in real-time from the companies present on the marketplace to compare and purchase the best suitable product at great discounts and other monetary benefits.
“MAUD seeks to create a win-win situation. Drivers gain financial incentives for providing companies with access to their data, while companies and traffic authorities can use that data to come up with new products and better mobility strategies that will benefit everyone,” Heiss says.
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Published by: Khy Talara
