Because car manufacturers tried to sell the data to advertisers, until they backed down because of the PR shitstorm (the article doesn't go into sufficient detail about this). If people are over-reacting towards privacy, that's understandable and well-deserved considering the over-reaches of data owners.
I think we need better privacy regulation. And "better" doesn't necessarily mean more restrictive, although quit a few players will feel restricted. It makes sense to separate data for safety from data for advertising (e.g. GDPR provides a framework for this). "Public benefit" can be a nebulous grey area.
Well said, we need a strong government entity to actually police data and how it is used. And, like you said better privacy regulation to mark the difference.
I think we need better privacy regulation. And "better" doesn't necessarily mean more restrictive, although quit a few players will feel restricted. It makes sense to separate data for safety from data for advertising (e.g. GDPR provides a framework for this). "Public benefit" can be a nebulous grey area.