Data Act: Data Under the Hood

The news went somewhat unnoticed, but last September, new European regulations on access to, use of, and sharing of data generated by connected products and digital services, more simply known as the Data Act, came into effect. "This is a legislative framework to unlock dormant data. 80% of the data from these connected products is currently untapped," explains Samia Arfaoui, country manager of the French subsidiary of Targa Telematic, an Italian company that processes 24 terabytes of data daily from more than four million vehicles worldwide. Specifically, the legislation aims to give users greater control over the information recorded by connected devices, including vehicles. It includes obligations for manufacturers and service providers, enabling, among other things, better access to data, facilitating its sharing with third parties, limiting unfair contractual clauses, and guaranteeing greater data portability.

It's often forgotten, but since the introduction of emergency call systems in 2018, all vehicles put into circulation are equipped with a manufacturer-installed telematics unit. Increasingly sophisticated, these systems collect a wide variety of data: mileage, fuel consumption, driving style, geolocation, battery status (for electric vehicles), mechanical alerts... the list goes on. This data is centralized on the manufacturers' servers, and it is precisely this dominant position that led the European Commission to develop the Data Act to prevent them from exclusively controlling its use.

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For companies operating vehicle fleets, regardless of size, several practical and strategic consequences stem from this regulation. "Broadly speaking, this will allow companies to improve their total cost of ownership (TCO), as they will have access, via software, to information that was previously unavailable to them," summarizes Samia Arfaoui. In concrete terms, data analysis allows, among other services, for better control of fleet performance and, ultimately, for cost optimization.

Fuel consumption, emissions, insurance, vehicle and consumable wear and tear (tires, brakes, windshield wipers, oil, etc.) – all this information is now available to fleet managers. For maintenance, this will allow for better anticipation of necessary interventions, a process known as "predictive and proactive maintenance," thus avoiding excessive vehicle downtime and, consequently, financial losses.

This regulation will also give companies the option of switching service providers or cloud providers without being hampered by excessive fees or restrictive clauses. As a result, they will be able to leverage competition and thus potentially lower costs. Taken together, all these measures could reduce bills by "around 20%" , estimates Samia Arfaoui.

Telematics companies are rubbing their hands with glee. "According to the European Commission, this regulation could create a €280 billion market by 2028," says Samia Arfaoui. With the opening up to third parties, new fleet services will emerge. These include, among others, driving analysis, fuel consumption optimization, the aforementioned proactive maintenance, and even benchmarking between models. While some of these services already exist, "the Data Act will primarily enable interoperability between all mobility stakeholders, such as manufacturers, oil companies, service providers, insurers, etc.," explains Samia Arfaoui. These stakeholders are particularly keen on this new regulation. "It will facilitate the development of the 'pay as you drive' system , " says an expert on the subject. Still very limited in France, this concept has been well-developed in the United Kingdom and Italy for over a decade. Thanks to an onboard telematics unit, it allows the insurance premium to be set according to the actual use of the vehicle and the driver's behavior. The more the driver respects the rules of the road, the lower their insurance premium.

This opening up of data, however, raises some concerns, particularly among users. The protection of personal information and the risk of privacy breaches remain sensitive issues. "Telematics has long been compared to a black box," notes Samia Arfaoui . "With the Data Act, we're talking about harmonizing data that already existed but wasn't being processed, in order to make it more readable and usable." The legislator has nevertheless established several safeguards; open access does not erase the obligations related to the protection of personal data or cybersecurity. "Companies must inform employees when they use telematics devices, and their use must always be based on operational reasons," she continues . "Every time a company has used this tool to measure employee performance, it has been counterproductive." At the same time, companies will have to verify that their suppliers (manufacturers, telematics providers) comply with the obligations, as responsibility can be shared between the sender and the user of this sensitive information. The data battle has only just begun.