Privacy is in jeopardy

Cars are already generating, storing and sharing huge amounts of data. That’s only going to increase. There’s a big (and potentially extremely dull) battle coming up about who owns that data and what they can do with it. Connectivity only works if the location and speed of your car are known at all times. But that also means

your location is known at all times – by the car manufacturer, the GPS and internet providers, by the highway authorities, and others. Who owns what? What can they do with it? A lot of laws need drawing up very quickly.

Stephan Appt of law •irm Pinsent Masons said: ‘Personal data needs to be protected, technical data needs to be shared. One can become the other – you are always on the edge of a data breach.’

The legal systems of the world are going to struggle to keep up with the claims and counter-claims that will inevitably arise as self-driving tech goes through a glitchy phase of prangs and missed appointments. Law-makers in di erent countries will doubtless come up with incompatible solutions.

Lawyers and insurance companies will, as ever, do well out of all this.