Audi CEO worries that Google could use its self-driving cars to abuse your privacy

People have been becoming more aware of Google’s self-driving car initiative over the past few months, especially with the company now beginning to report a number of driverless car accidents to the public. But now that software is becoming more important when talking about the construction of automobiles, questions are being raised about who exactly should have access to the data generated from driverless cars. According to a report from Re/code, Audi CEO Rupert Stadler has some strong feelings on the subject.

At a business event on Tuesday in Berlin attended by Google’s Eric Schmidt, Stadler worried:

A car is one’s second living room today – that’s private. The only person who needs access to the data onboard is the customer.

You see, Google has been trying to cozy up to German car manufacturers over the past few months in hopes to build partnerships for the future. The problem is, Germany’s automobile industry has a very distinct view on the privacy of the cars they produce, which could obviously pose a problem for Google. Stadler goes on to explain, “The customer wants to be at the focus, and does not want to be exploited.”

These types of arguments are to be expected, though, when talking about connected cars. This isn’t the first time folks have raised concerns about Google and the way it handles privacy, and it certainly won’t be the last.