Privacy, telematics and right-to-repair surface as lawmakers weigh data protections for today’s and autonomous cars

Privacy and repair rights were recurring themes at the hearing as members and witnesses pressed vehicle manufacturers and AV representatives about data collection, law-enforcement access and independent repair.

John Bozzella of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation acknowledged that modern vehicles collect sensitive data and said the industry embraced voluntary privacy principles introduced in 2014 emphasizing transparency, context and consent. Bozzella and others told the panel Congress should consider a federal privacy law covering automotive data; he said many data categories (such as occupant biometric information and telematics for crash response) are collected for legitimate safety reasons but require clear consumer consent.

Representative Lori Trahan and Representative Katherine Clark framed the issue as part of a broader AI-and-data debate: some congressional proposals to temporarily bar state AI rules could inadvertently limit state and local AV safeguards, they warned. Witnesses urged American lawmakers to pair federal privacy protections with AV-specific data standards, including a national safety data repository for AV incidents.

Separately, Representative John Dunn described bipartisan right-to-repair legislation (H.R. 1566) intended to preserve consumers’ ability to choose where to repair cars and to protect independent repair shops’ access to diagnostic and repair data, including protections for intellectual property and cybersecurity. Industry and AV witnesses said they worked with lawmakers on language for AV-related systems to balance safety, IP and repair access.

Ending: Members said they will press for comprehensive privacy legislation and consider right-to-repair provisions in future bills; the hearing did not adopt statutory changes.