Measuring data access and re-use in the European Legal Framework for Data, from the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law to the Proposed Data Act: the case of vehicle data

Abstract

This article delves into the difficulties and opportunities associated with the acquisition, sharing, and re-purposing of vehicle data, particularly information derived from black boxes used by insurance companies and event data recorders installed by manufacturers. While this data is usually utilized by insurers and car makers, it may benefit consumers, rival firms, and public institutions profiting from access to data for objectives such as data portability between insurance companies, traffic and transportation management, and the development of intelligent mobility solutions. Among other regulations, the authors examine the proposed Data Act as the European chosen champion to address the legal and technical hurdles surrounding the reuse of privately held corporate data, including privacy and intellectual property, competition, and data interoperability issues. The text also offers an overview of the sorts of data obtained through vehicle recording systems and their potential benefits for various stakeholders. This paper presents a methodology for comparing and evaluating, in an ordinal fashion, the degree of access conferred by various regulations and put it to practical use to assess how much data is currently left out from access by the existing legislation, how much of such data is covered by the Data Act, and ultimately, how much still remains inaccessible for reuse.