Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched a lawsuit against General Motors (GM), accusing the car manufacturer of collecting and selling the private driving data of over 1.5 million Texans without their consent. The lawsuit follows Paxton's June 2024 announcement of an investigation into several car manufacturers over similar allegations.

GM is accused of using technology in most 2015 or newer model vehicles to collect, record, analyse, and transmit detailed driving data each time a driver used their vehicle. The company allegedly sold this information to several companies, including at least two for the purpose of generating 'Driving Scores' about GM's customers and selling these scores to insurance companies.

In addition, GM is accused of deceiving customers by compelling them to enrol in its products, such as OnStar Smart Driver, as part of its vehicle 'onboarding' process, and telling them that failing to enrol would result in the deactivation of their vehicle's safety features. By enrolling in GM's products, customers were unknowingly 'agreeing' to GM's collection and sale of their data. Despite lengthy and convoluted disclosures, GM allegedly never informed its customers of its actual conduct - the systematic collection and sale of their highly detailed driving data.

"Our investigation revealed that General Motors has engaged in egregious business practices that violated Texans' privacy and broke the law. We will hold them accountable," said Attorney General Paxton. "Companies are using invasive technology to violate the rights of our citizens in unthinkable ways. Millions of American drivers wanted to buy a car, not a comprehensive surveillance system that unlawfully records information about every drive they take and sells their data to any company willing to pay for it."