Otonomo Secretly Tracks, Sells Real-Time GPS Location Data of California Drivers, Class Action Alleges

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A proposed class action alleges data broker Otonomo Inc. secretly collects and sells real-time GPS location details for millions of cars worldwide, allowing its clients to easily pinpoint a consumer’s precise location at any time, day or night. 

The 10-page lawsuit says that Otonomo’s paying clients can then use consumers’ GPS location data to gain “specific insight” about where they live, work and worship, and with whom they associate. According to the complaint, Otonomo does not obtain consent from drivers, especially those in California, before tracking them and selling their “highly private and valuable” GPS location data. 

As the suit tells it, Otonomo cannot simply ask a driver for permission to track their GPS location and sell it to “scores of unknown third parties.” The lawsuit contends that given that “[v]ery few (if any) drivers would voluntarily provide … unfettered access to their daily personal lives” to a company like Otonomo, the San Francisco-based data broker has partnered with “at least sixteen” automakers—including BMW, GM, Ford and Toyota—to utilize their cars’ electronics to send the defendant real-time GPS location data. According to the filing, this is accomplished by way of a “secret ‘always on’ cellular data connection.” 

“In this way, drivers never even realize electronic tracking devices have been attached to their cars or that anybody is tracking their real-time movements, let alone a data broker,” the case states, charging that “tens of thousands of unsuspecting California drivers are being tracked while they drop their kids off at school, go to work, pick up groceries, visit with friends, or otherwise go about their daily lives.” 

“These individuals are not suspects of any investigations, not part of any state or federal watchlists, and not subjects of any legitimate government surveillance programs. Nor do they have any notice that they are under constant surveillance by Otonomo or that Otonomo is turning around and selling their real-time movements to its paying clients.” 

Otonomo is described as a non-consumer-facing company who reportedly collects 4.1 billion data points per day, despite never having informed drivers of its information collection and sales practices, the suit says. The lawsuit alleges Otonomo has run afoul of the California Invasion of Privacy Act, a state law that expressly prohibits the use of an “electronic tracking device to determine the location or movement of a person” without consent.

The suit looks to represent all California residents who own or lease a vehicle and whose GPS data has been collected by Otonomo.

The case was initially filed in San Francisco County Superior Court on April 11 before being removed to California’s Northern District Court on May 13, 2022.

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