Does a Ford car track its driver's every move or not?
Consumers have been left confused as to just how closely Ford watches their driving habits after a company official claimed Ford knows when people break the law--and then rescinded his statements.
Jim Farley, Ford's global vice president of marketing and sales, seemed to be letting an important cat out of the bag during a panel discussion at this week's International CES in Las Vegas.
Describing the amount of data that Ford has and trying to articulate how little the company does with it, Farley told the panel that Ford knows through GPS when its drivers speed and where they're breaking speeding limits, Business Insider reported.
"We know everyone who breaks the law, we know when you're doing it. We have GPS in your car, so we know what you're doing. By the way, we don't supply that data to anyone," he told attendees as quoted by Business Insider.
At the panel, Farley envisioned a future where the data garnered through the GPS units installed in Ford vehicles could be used anonymously to help with traffic-related issues.
An example he used was a stadium holding an event; hypothetically, organizers could know how much traffic to expect and adjust its parking lot resources.
Despite the ominous certainty in Farley's initial statements, he has since completely backtracked on his panel remarks.
"I absolutely left the wrong impression about how Ford operates. We do not track our customers in their cars without their approval or their consent," Farley said. "The statement I made in my eyes was hypothetical and I want to clear this up."
According to a Ford spokesperson, GPS units installed in Ford vehicles don't send out locations as motorists are driving around, and data is generally only used to improve services, Business Insider reported.
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