Private Autonomous Vehicles. The compatibility of privacy regulation and innovation in autonomous vehicles

Due to the ever increasing interconnected and data collecting world the modern consumer is presented with, the notion of privacy is a topic that is often discussed within current academic research about media studies. The argument often made in academia that the notion of privacy is presented as a trade-off with innovation in the modern technological world and is seen as a limitation to the furthering if the technological progress that modern society is pursuing. As a means of addressing the current concerns within the topic of privacy and a digital world, the European Union has introduced new regulations to enforce more control over what data is collected, stored and process in and effort to ensure privacy of the user of these technologies is not only improved upon but restored with the European Economic zone through the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The main research question driving this thesis thereby is: To what degree is privacy, through GDPR, compatible with innovation in AV’s? This leading research question seeks to create an understanding of how both technology and privacy regulations could be introduced within a modern technology filled life and designed to create a far more secure and inclusive society. GDPR, a set of regulations enforced by the European Commission, is a regulatory measure developed to control the processing by and individual, a company or an organization or personal data, relating to individuals within the EU. By using the AV sector as a lens, this thesis hopes to contribute to the current understanding of how autonomous vehicles remain pioneering while at the same time continue to develop the technology, ensuring at the same time, privacy is maintained. A qualitative content analysis, based on online material published by five primary stakeholders, was conducted to seek a middle ground, and through it this thesis identified four main patterns in the compatibility between AV technology, privacy and how the GDPR could complement both. The first pattern involved the concept of trust. Trust is a vital pattern that the stakeholders have identified and is a reoccurring pattern as a result of this study of online content. The second pattern identified with regards to consent, which echoed the theoretical background, and where in which GDPR plays a vital component as it explicitly requires the consent of the user. Thirdly, transparency and public information was identified in answering the research question. Data collection must be transparent and finally, the fourth pattern revolves around ethical dilemmas, which shows that contrary to contemporary academic debates, ethical dilemmas, or so-called ‘trolley cases,’ are not required for AVs.