Driverless cars: safer perhaps, but professor warns of privacy risks

The vehicles could build a 'gold mine' of personal data for private companies, and a profile of users, Queensland law expert says

Driverless vehicles could build a "gold mine" of personal data for private companies and would make it easier for them to target people as consumers, an Australian law professor has warned.

Des Butler, of the Queensland University of Technology, said the privacy risks involved in driverless vehicles were a "sleeper issue" that regulators were yet to fully consider, even though car manufacturers say the technology could be on roads in Australia by 2020.