🚗GM Pays $220 Million to Settle Driver Data Sale Lawsuit

Your car's driving data just got a lot harder to sell

General Motors just agreed to pay $220 million to settle claims it sold drivers' driving behavior and location data to data brokers, who then sold it to insurers. The catch? The company ended the program in 2024, but the lawsuit kept going. Bottom line: selling the data was the problem, not just the program. If you build anything that touches vehicle telemetry, pay attention. The settlement requires express consent before GM collects or shares driving and location data, and it's a template regulators will likely reuse. Connected-car platforms, fleet tools, and insurance telematics integrations all sit in the same risk zone now. The lawsuit was brought by a coalition of attorneys general from 36 states. The FTC separately finalized an order banning GM and its OnStar service from sharing certain consumer data. GM will stop selling vehicle information tied to individuals, their location, or how they drive, though anonymized data may still go to some partners. Worth watching: GM is simultaneously launching a personal AI assistant inside OnStar, with live views and crash recordings. Customers who opt out of sharing will likely lose access to some features.