The operation of modern vehicles generates large volumes of data of various types, referred to as mobility data, such as vehicle status information, environmental conditions, operating states of system components or position information. The vehicle manufacturer uses this data for product monitoring and further development. However, it can also be the basis for digital services related to the vehicle, enable and promote sovereign action, or provide added value for the community by creating and analyzing large data pools. The prerequisite for all of this, however, is that mobility data be accessible in the first place. Due to the current technical conditions, the vehicle manufacturer alone effectively controls data access in the vehicle. According to the factory configuration and due to a lack of interfaces, networked vehicles do not provide for direct access to data generated in the vehicle, neither for the vehicle user himself nor for other third parties. This leads to a de facto data sovereignty of the vehicle manufacturers. On the one hand, this results in competitive challenges and risks, such as risks of market failure, ultimately also to the detriment of consumers. On the other hand, vehicle users are restricted in their self-determined use of data. In addition, there is the important circumstance that, according to the prevailing view, mobility data regularly qualify as 'personal data' in the sense of data protection law, so that the processing of mobility data requires consistent compliance with data protection law. The de facto data sovereignty of manufacturers therefore also raises concerns under data protection law.
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