General Motors Co. said Friday it has stopped sharing detailed information about how people drive its cars with two data brokers that created risk profiles for the insurance industry.
The decision follows a New York Times report earlier this month that found GM had been sharing data about drivers’ mileage, braking, acceleration and speed with the insurance industry for years. Drivers are turning to OnStar Smart Driver, a feature in GM’s connected cars that collects data about how the car is driving and promises feedback and digital badges for good driving (some without even realizing it). It was said to have been registered.
Some drivers said their insurance premiums went up as a result of the collected data that GM shared with two brokers, LexisNexis Risk Solutions and Verisk. The companies then sold that data to insurance companies.
As of Wednesday, “OnStar Smart Driver customer data is no longer shared with LexisNexis or Verisk,” GM spokeswoman Mallory Rusich said in an emailed statement. “Customer trust is a top priority for us and we actively evaluate our privacy processes and policies.”
Romeo Cicco, a Florida man whose insurance premiums nearly doubled after Cadillac collected his driving data, filed a class action complaint against GM, OnStar and LexisNexis this month.
More than 8 million vehicles will be covered by Smart Driver as of 2022, according to internal documents reviewed by The Times. The company’s annual revenue from smart drivers is in the low millions of dollars, according to an employee familiar with the program.
