DRIVER Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The DRIVER Act requires motor vehicle manufacturers to provide owners secure, real-time access to and joint control of vehicle data at no cost beyond the purchase price, without fees or special manufacturer devices, through an interface port and wireless transmission where available, while enabling deletion of user data and following voluntary cybersecurity standards. Owners may authorize third-party access for lawful purposes except for foreign-adversary-controlled persons. Manufacturers and fleet owners must offer clear opt-outs before selling covered biometric, precise geolocation, or driver-behavior data, with an employment-related fleet exception and many operational exceptions for emergency response, safety communications, research, claims, recalls, cybersecurity, warranties, diagnostics, processors, affiliates, public information, business transactions, warrants, and court orders. The bill bars knowing sales of motor vehicle data to North Korea, China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela, treats section 2 violations as FTC unfair or deceptive acts or practices, preserves confidential business information, and preempts state or local laws relating to section 2.
Who Benefits and How
Motor vehicle owners, drivers, users, consumers, and independent repair providers benefit from direct data access, no extra decryption or device fees, and owner-authorized third-party use. Consumers also benefit from opt-out rights before covered data sales and from restrictions on sales to foreign adversary governments.
Who Bears the Burden and How
Motor vehicle manufacturers and fleet owners must build access, deletion, cybersecurity, opt-out, and data-sale compliance systems. FTC staff must enforce violations as unfair or deceptive acts or practices. State governments lose authority to maintain overlapping rules for the covered data-access issue, while foreign-adversary-controlled entities are barred from receiving covered vehicle data sales.
Key Provisions
- Requires manufacturers to provide motor vehicle owners secure real-time data access and joint control at no added cost.
- Requires clear opt-out rights before manufacturers or fleet owners sell covered biometric, geolocation, or driver-behavior data.
- Bars knowing sales of motor vehicle data to North Korea, China, Russia, Iran, and Venezuela.
- Directs FTC enforcement, preserves confidential business information, preempts related state laws, and defines covered vehicle data terms.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Gives vehicle owners real-time access and joint control over motor vehicle data, restricts covered data sales, assigns FTC enforcement, preserves confidential business information, and preempts related state laws.
Key Policy Areas
Transportation, Technology, Consumers, Manufacturing
Primary Purpose
Gives vehicle owners real-time access and joint control over motor vehicle data, restricts covered data sales, assigns FTC enforcement, preserves confidential business information, and preempts related state laws.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- motor vehicle owners
- drivers
- consumers
- independent repair providers
Identified Costs
- motor vehicle manufacturers
- fleet owners
- Federal Trade Commission staff
- state governments
- foreign entities
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMrs. Harshbarger (for herself, Mr. Weber of Texas, and Mr. …
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
motor vehicle manufacturers applying data definitions, motor vehicle manufacturers building data access systems, motor vehicle manufacturers operating under one federal access rule
Positive-direction: motor vehicle manufacturers operating under one federal access rule, motor vehicle manufacturers protecting confidential business information
Negative-direction: motor vehicle manufacturers applying data definitions, motor vehicle manufacturers building data access systems, motor vehicle manufacturers selling covered data, motor vehicle manufacturers subject to FTC penalties
consumers protected by FTC enforcement, drivers receiving vehicle data sale opt-outs, motor vehicle owners accessing vehicle data
foreign entities in barred countries seeking vehicle data, foreign-adversary-controlled data users
local governments regulating vehicle data access, state governments regulating vehicle data access
independent repair providers authorized by owners
motor vehicle fleet owners selling covered data
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "Commission"
- → Federal Trade Commission
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Personal data relating to biometric identifiers, precise geolocation, or driver behavior for a motor vehicle owner, driver, or user.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology