Legal and regulatory framework on in-vehicle data

Access to and the exchange of in-vehicle data

Right now, seven percent of the 8.5 million cars in the Netherlands are connected and that number is growing every year with 200.000 new connected vehicles. These modern sensor-equipped cars generate and collect large amounts of data on, for example, traffic and road conditions, engine performance, driver behavior and the speed and location of the vehicle. But with data not having a legal owner, the questions are: who can exert influence on this data? Who has the right to access and (re-)use this data? Which laws and regulations apply or should apply to the exchange of in-vehicle data? Who are the actors and what are the interests?
Until now there was no single source consisting of a structured overview of applicable laws and regulations in relation to in-vehicle data in the Netherlands and the EU. This regularly led to misunderstanding and semantic discussions, which the legal and regulatory framework on in-vehicle data wants to overcome by facilitating qualitative discussions and negotiations regarding access to and the exchange of in-vehicle data.

Smart searchable legal and regulatory framework on in-vehicle data

Deloitte Legal together with stakeholders, such as Automotive Industry branch associations and the Dutch government, have formed a focus group to discuss questions, such as: who may have access to in-vehicle data, under what conditions may different actors in the Automotive Industry exchange in-vehicle data and how can a level playing field be achieved? This has led to the development of a legal and regulatory framework on in-vehicle data by Deloitte Legal in close collaboration with the aforementioned stakeholders.

The legal and regulatory framework consists of a searchable and comparable overview of all relevant EU legislation and Dutch legislation, i.e. public laws (regulations), (intellectual) property laws (including trade secret legislation) and contract laws in relation to in-vehicle data. This framework is accompanied by i) a Thesaurus that provides insights into the layered structure of all the definitions as used in the framework and how these definitions relate to each other, so all parties with an interest in in-vehicle data can engage in discussions on the basis of the same terminology and ii) Use Cases that demonstrate how parties with an interest in in-vehicle data can use the framework to find the answers to several questions with regard to access to and the exchange of in-vehicle data.

The framework is built in a smart Excel format through which parties can navigate to find the specific legislation that is applicable to them and are able to see how this relates to other Automotive Industry actors in the ecosystem,. i.e. their rights and obligations. The framework also provides insights in the interests that individual actors or groups of actors may have, such as safety, privacy, security and fair competition in relation to in-vehicle data. The framework has been validated by an independent research expert.

All parties with an interest in in-vehicle data can use the framework as a structured and neutral source – a central point of truth – to (e.g.) determine their strategic (legal) position, stimulate collaborations, engage in collaborative (IoT) projects and set up new ecosystems. The framework may also help in facilitating qualitative discussions and negotiations regarding access to and the exchange of in-vehicle data to achieve a level playing field.

The legal and regulatory framework and accompanying thesaurus may be obtained by all parties with an interest in in-vehicle data via an open source license. The framework and specific licensing conditions will be available in due course.

Determine your strategic (legal) position regarding access to and the exchange of in-vehicle data

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