Mert Pesé of Clemson University is taking on a privacy problem that is parked in garages and driveways across the country.
Modern cars are rolling data centers, packed with sensors, apps and software that can collect information about where people go, how they drive and how they use the systems inside their vehicles.
Pesé, an assistant professor of computer science, has received a National Science Foundation CAREER Award to study automotive data privacy and develop tools that could give drivers more control over their personal information.
For Pesé, the project is the culmination of a deeply personal, long-term research journey. He has been investigating the intersection of vehicle systems and user data since his Ph.D. days at the University of Michigan, establishing himself as one of the early pioneers of the academic area of automotive privacy.
“This is an urgent issue because it has real-world consequences,” Pesé said. “We have recently seen major automakers sharing sensitive driving behavior with data brokers, directly resulting in consumer backlash, insurance hikes and federal lawsuits.”
The issue is familiar to anybody who has ever clicked “agree” on a terms of service without reading the fine print. Many drivers do not know what their cars are collecting, who gets the data or how to stop it from being shared, Pesé said.
To help pull back the curtain, Pesé and his team are launching a three-part research project.
They will start by studying drivers. Researchers want to know whether people understand that cars collect data, what privacy controls drivers think they have and how they respond to privacy choices on vehicle screens.
The team then plans to measure what data cars and third-party apps collect. They will compare those findings with privacy policies to see whether the written promises match what is happening behind the dashboard.
The team will also design better privacy tools for drivers. That includes an in-vehicle privacy dashboard that would act like a “privacy nutrition label” helping show drivers what information is being collected in a cleaner way so they can make better-informed choices, Pesé said.
The work is meant to help more than drivers. Pesé’s team plans to build on PriDrive, an automotive privacy analysis tool, and turn it into a system that automakers and app developers could use to check third-party apps for privacy issues.
The work could also be helpful to policymakers, who could use the data that the team generates to support and enforce legislative actions, such as the proposed Auto Data Privacy and Autonomy Act, Pesé said.
The CAREER award also includes an educational component aimed at cultivating privacy literacy from high school to the professional workforce. It includes hands-on undergraduate research, new automotive privacy labs built into the cybersecurity curriculum and K-12 training workshops.
“Demystifying the ‘black box’ of everyday connected technology for younger students and giving them the critical thinking skills to protect themselves in an increasingly digital world is uniquely rewarding,” Pesé said. “Bringing that real-world spark into the classroom is what driving STEM education is all about.”
Brian Dean, the C. Tycho Howle Director of the School of Computing, said the CAREER award recognizes Pesé’s growing leadership in automotive cybersecurity and privacy, while also underscoring the practical value of research that helps protect consumers as cars and other technology become more connected.
“This CAREER award is a testament to Dr. Pesé’s hard work, creativity and commitment to research that addresses real problems facing real people,” Dean said. “His work reflects the School of Computing’s growing strength in cybersecurity and privacy, and it shows how Clemson research can help build trust in the technologies people use every day.”
