Study finds connected cars and apps share data with third parties

Researchers at Northeastern University and Consumer Reports found that connected vehicles and their companion apps contacted third-party advertising, tracking and analytics services, with some apps sending personal identifiers or location data. In tests of 21 vehicles and 30 apps, 19 vehicles contacted at least one third party over Wi-Fi, while seven apps transmitted personal data to such companies, according to the researchers’ findings. The study, conducted from October 2024 through August 2025, examined network traffic from vehicles and app communications. Researchers identified destinations and some information sent by apps, including vehicle identification numbers (VINs), email addresses, phone numbers and precise location. They said VINs were the most commonly shared type of personal data among those they found in app traffic. The researchers classified 11 of the 21 vehicles as contacting at least one domain associated with advertising, tracking or analytics over Wi-Fi. The number of domains varied: the Tesla Model 3 contacted 34 such domains, the Tesla Cybertruck 23 and the Cadillac Lyriq 10.