On July 27, 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously approved the Safely Ensuring Lives Future Deployment and Research In Vehicle Evolution Act, or SELF DRIVE Act, on a 54-0 vote. The Act now moves to the full U.S. House of Representatives for a vote. If passed, the Act would require manufacturers of “highly automated vehicles” to develop privacy policies regarding the information obtained by the vehicle about its occupants.

As written, the Act restricts manufacturers from selling any “highly automated … vehicle that performs partial driving automation, … or automated driving system unless the manufacturer has developed a privacy plan.”  Sec. 12(a) of the Act (emphasis added). The contemplated privacy plan must include the following components:

• A written privacy plan with respect to the collection, use, sharing, and storage of information about vehicle owners or occupants collected by the vehicle.
• A method for providing notice to vehicle owners or occupants about the privacy policy.

The Act provides, however, that if information about a vehicle’s owners or occupants is altered such that the information can no longer be reasonably linked to the vehicle, the manufacturer is not required to include the processes or practices regarding that information in the privacy policy. In addition, if information about a vehicle occupant is “anonymized or encrypted,” the manufacturer is not required to include practices regarding owner and occupant information in the privacy plan.

The Act would also require that the Federal Trade Commission conduct a study and submit a report on the highly automated vehicle marketplace, particularly to determine which entities in the ecosystem have access to vehicle owner or occupant data and which entities in the highly automated vehicle marketplace have privacy plans. The study and report would further address the terms and disclosures made in such privacy plans, including information regarding the collection, use, sharing, and storage of vehicle owner or occupant data.

As noted, the Act has not yet come to the chamber floor for a vote, and no such vote has been scheduled to date. Given other items on the Congressional to-do list, further movement on the Act could slip into next year. The Safely Ensuring Lives Future Deployment and Research In Vehicle Evolution Act can be found here.