Would You Let Ford Pay You to Monitor Your Driving?
Ford’s ‘Big Data Drive’ program tracks your driving habits for research purposes, but are you willing to share all that?
These days, “Big Brother” is everywhere. In our homes, trucks, and pretty much everywhere else, there are devices capable of listening to our conversations and even recording video of what we’re doing. And while many of us have accepted this fact, others are a bit more paranoid. Now, on the heels of insurance companies offering driving monitors for a discounted rate, Ford has launched its own Big Data Drive project. Ford Truck Enthusiasts member RenoHuskerDu was offered a spot, but he’s obviously a little creeped out by the idea.
“Ford wrote and offered me some trivial amount of money if I would consent to them monitoring my driving. I was not interested, and told them so. It’s kind of creepy. The funny thing is, the letter didn’t mention that I’d need to go to the dealer and get anything installed or turned on. I just needed to say OK. Has anybody here joined Ford’s Big Data program? Did they need to modify your truck or install a tracker? Or, could our trucks be tracking us already?”
Many members, including Akley88, point out that this isn’t an entirely new idea. Nor would it be hard to monitor anything an automaker chooses to.
“I would imagine if you have the 4G connection there wouldn’t be a need to have anything added to monitor vehicle data. I know many cars now have black boxes that can record and store various kinds of data. The idea of gathering owner data isn’t unusual. Tesla does it all the time, and I wouldn’t be surprised if more car companies push that kind of technology. Insurance companies are pushing it now as a way to offer discounts. And I’m sure at some point they may require it if it helps them decrease claims.”
And as SDcrewzer notes, Ford is pretty much already monitoring a lot of things.
“Our trucks already have the ability to record some collision, maintenance, navigation, operational, and performance data. See ‘Data Recording’ and ‘Event Data Recording’ in the owner’s manual.”
So far, only one person has chimed in that’s actually participating in this program – hookd.
“We are doing it on the wife’s Explorer. It is a device that plugs into the OBDII port. A small phone that syncs it up to that stays plugged in. I figured if it helps Ford get data to make better vehicles for how we use them, more power to them.”
It’s pretty clear from the responses so far that most people are quite aware of what’s going on. And also that they don’t really seem to mind. But we want to know what you think. Would you participate in this program if you had a chance? Or are you creeped out by the idea of giving up so much personal information? Head over here and let us know!
Photos: Ford Truck Enthusiasts forums
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