Policy implications of ubiquitous technologies in the car : privacy, data ownership, and regulation

Motor vehicle travel is the primary means of transportation in the United States, providing freedom in travel and enterprise for many people. However, motor vehicle accidents are the largest component of unintentional injuries and contribute to a high degree of morbidity and mortality for all ages. This thesis analyzes the relationship between feedback technologies and driver behavior. Based on the findings, policy recommendations were made to help ensure that the privacy and trust of the public are not compromised, as ubiquitous technologies become a reality in automobiles. The thesis provides an overview of the most modem mechanisms available in cars today. Furthermore, this thesis takes the first steps to combining existing technologies into a single system that not only tracks driver behavior, but also provides feedback in the hopes of improving drive performance and safety. The qualitative discussion includes a stakeholder analysis of the prime interests and effects of all parties that are impacted by ubiquitous technologies in the car. The qualitative discussion also contains the results of four focus groups that were conducted to gain first hand insights about the view of the drivers about monitoring technologies in the car.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Technology and Policy Program.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Narváez Bustamante, Alex Fernando

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Joseph F. Coughlin.

• Technology and Policy Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/38567

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/38567