GM Class Action: GPS, Music Preference of Car Owners Collected

General Motors collects driver information in an attempt to monetize it in the future, according to a class action lawsuit. 

Plaintiff Gregory L. Mehlman argues that General Motors should set up a system to compensate drivers whose information they collect and share.

He also seeks to prevent the company from continuing to use and collect driver data without authorization.

Mehlman says that he leased a 2018 Chevrolet Bold EV in Burbank, Calif. in August 2018. 

Allegedly, General Motors collects data from cars connected to cellular networks, and is attempting to find ways to make money on this data.

Mehlman claims that a range of information about internal and external environments can be collected by cars and then transmitted.

Allegedly, connected cars can track location due to GPS, music preferences from satellite radio, rate of speed, whether or not it is raining, diagnostic data about the state of the vehicle, and other information.

The GM class action says this data can then be transmitted outside the vehicle.

Mehlman argues that he and other drivers of connected GM cars are being financially injured by this collection of information because they are not being compensated for their data, and General Motors is not making an effort to begin to compensate drivers for their data.

The GM data collection class action lawsuit also claims that connected cars can “facilitate transactions with third parties using the vehicle, such as in-car payment services, vehicle recovery systems, roadside assistance and insurance by using data collected by connected cars to offer cheaper insurance to drivers.”

Mehlman cites an industry expert who said “the car is the browser for the physical world,” and notes that in 2017, more new cars were added to cellular networks than cellphones.

Allegedly, Gartner, a research firm, estimates that by 2021, 98 percent of all new cars sold in the United States and Europe will have connectivity.

To support his claim that car companies collect this data, Mehlman cites experts, including Joseph Jerome from the Center for Democracy & Technology who says that “cars are generating so much data, and all of it is incredible valuable. Carmakers are champing at the bit to find ways to monetize it.”

Mehlman also notes that a “Monetizing Car Data” conference was held in Munich in January 2019, in which automakers reportedly discussed how data from connected cars could “open the door to new services and revenue streams.”

Specific to GM, Mehlman says that in July 2018, GM created the new position of Chief Data and Analytics Officer, who “basically is looking at data as a business opportunity,” according to a GM spokesperson.

Some of the ways in which companies allegedly anticipate using the data is to sell it to third parties through partnerships.

The GM data selling class action lawsuit gives an example that “if a pizzeria that a driver frequents is provided with data about the driver’s location just as she’s driving by, the driver will get a discount on pizza if she picks it up right then and there.”

Allegedly, other experts anticipate that this move towards monetizing data has already become and will increasingly become a fight with consumers over their data, and that some of these moves by companies may come at the detriment to car owners.

Mehlman is represented by Jordan L. Lurie, Jennifer Pafiti, Ari Basser, and Roxanne Talaie of Pomerantz LLP, and by Zev Zysman of Law Offices of Zev B. Zysman APC.

The General Motors Data Collection Class Action Lawsuit is Gregory L. Mehlman v. General Motors LLC, Case No. RG9013705, in the Superior Court for the State of California, County of Alameda.

Read More Lawsuit & Settlement News:

Toyota Camry Owners Get HVAC Class Action Lawsuit Certified

Women Consider Essure Reversal After Reports of Serious Side Effects

Disney Class Action Says Female Employees Are Paid Less

What Does Dilantin Do to Your Brain?