US regulator tells GM to hit the brakes on customer tracking

The FTC finalized a 20-year consent order against GM/OnStar over the Smart Driver program’s telematics data practices, prohibiting the sharing of precise location and driving behavior data with consumer reporting agencies for five years and requiring explicit user consent for future collection. GM had already shut down Smart Driver in April 2024; the order mandates clearer privacy notices and user controls for data access, deletion, and disabling precise geolocation, while permitting limited emergency and R&D uses.