On the Road - with Google and Microsoft

Slate's The Big Money has an interesting article covering Apple and the automotive industry. Their verdict? Not a good idea. What I found interesting was the broader background of consumer technology with Big Three stalwarts GM and Ford.

Some of the Google products caught my eye. I am not clear on whether or not they are real, but put them together with some of Google's other privacy law skirmishes and I can put forward some interesting legal scenarios.

What if Google/OnStar reported back positioning of cars it was installed on to a central site that provided data for traffic management? Imaging a service that tracks the location of all Google/OnStar vehicles and extrapolates traffic conditions, then provides recommended alternate routes? Can drivers opt out?

What about a third-party service that pays both GM and Ford for this kind of information, then resells a service available to multiple platforms for drivers to use. Imagine installing a app on your 'smartcar' that gathers real time traffic data from a database generated by Sync and Android devices, maybe some free government public data as well?

What about telemetry? Black box technology that transmits your speed, mileage, road conditions, fuel consumption, and whatever else. how's that for privacy? What if the government started issuing tickets because your Android phone reported that you were doing 80 in a 65 for ten minutes?