Unlocking opportunities: cyber security and the use of data in the CAV ecosystem

26th Februrary 2019

On 23 October 2018, AXA and Burges Salmon launched their latest joint Legal and Insurance report as part of the FLOURISH project. FLOURISH explores how CAV technology can be harnessed to enable and enhance mobility for older adults and those with age-related conditions, contributing to the development of a stronger and more inclusive society.

Data worth £32 billion per year will fuel driverless vehicles 

Connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) will generate data on an unprecedented scale. Research commissioned by the Transport Systems Catapult in 2014 estimated that by 2025, the value of data to the intelligent transport market will be approximately £32 billion per year. That’s a staggering amount of money but it is not necessarily the monetary value of the data that is important; it’s the potential.

The transfer of data will be critical to enabling the operation of CAVs at network level and the optimisation of regional traffic management systems, improving efficiency for transport authorities and the travel experience for customers. It will also enable the future real-time communication of journey information to users, allowing them to make ‘on the move’ choices about their travel. Some of that data will be personal data.

The use of personal data is a hot topic. That’s no bad thing: individuals are increasingly aware of the personal data they hand over to organisations and how that data is used. But it does mean that to enable the true potential of data in the CAV ecosystem, care needs to be taken to secure the trust of users. The Legal and Insurance report explores some of the recent studies on UK consumer attitudes to the sharing of personal data and some of the potential tension in the distinction between the legal and human definition of personal data. It also looks at how personal data in the CAV ecosystem may be shared lawfully.

What’s next?

The report makes a number of recommendations. It seeks the input of the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office and calls for a consultation on the potential changes that may be required to current data protection laws to facilitate the successful deployment of CAVs on UK roads. It also calls for government and industry stakeholders to collaborate to begin to structure a ‘data map’ for the CAV ecosystem which seeks to identify who needs access to data, what data and when.

AXA and Burges Salmon continue to work closely with consortium partners to further the discussion on CAV cyber security and the use of personal data in the CAV ecosystem. They will be producing a third report for FLOURISH in Spring 2019.

By Lucy Pegler, Burges Salmon

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