The Editorial

I feel compelled to make another “rant” on a subject I’ve already had occasion to broach. For some time now, Renault has been launching the advertising campaign for its new product, based on nostalgia, the Renault 5 electric…

One of the advertising arguments is Google integration. Doesn’t that make you wonder? It is now generally accepted that the current industrial revolution is the digital one, which is responsible for most of the value chain: from an industrial and economic point of view, doesn’t it shock you, Mr. Luca de Meo, to let an external company benefit from the biggest slice of the cake you produce?

For Renault, the risk is that of total dependence on a single external supplier, who is also subject to foreign regulations. What mechanisms have been put in place to ensure operational continuity in the event of the supplier’s failure?

The other questionable point is, of course, Google’s use of analytical data from Renault’s platforms. We’re in a similar situation to those who use Amazon: it’s the platform that knows the fine details of their customers’ behavior, and how their product is used.

There is also the question of intellectual property rights linked to the use of the digital part of the car and the information gathered by Google on predictive maintenance issues… We know that the challenge of the autonomous car has not yet been met, even if a great deal of progress is being made. This begs the question: through this alliance with Google, isn’t Renault preparing the weapons of its future adversary? Are we not witnessing a new destruction of our automotive industry by itself?

I also think it’s important to raise the awareness of future customers. Indeed, there are two blatant risks for the customer in buying this type of car: that of data transfer abroad (notably through the Cloud Act), and that of compliance with our own European regulations, the RGPD. At what point will the user be able to give his opinion on the use of his data, and what means have been put in place to enable him to curb or prohibit its use?

A concrete example of this risk is the use of such a vehicle by a leading politician or even a major industrialist. Google, and therefore the American intelligence services via the Cloud Act, will be able to obtain a detailed analysis of the movements of the vehicles in question, and even access conversations inside the vehicles (if there is a voice command, or a “Google” assistant). The same will apply to the integration of the user’s smartphone into the platform (with synchronization options), which will be a source of data for our American “allies”, particularly in the economic war they are waging against us, but which we don’t want to see…

Any responsible manufacturer would have to put in place a few protective measures that would probably mitigate the risks without eliminating them, such as encrypting data at every stage (at rest and in transit), or regularly auditing Google infrastructures to check their compliance with Renault’s internal policies (I don’t have much faith in this), but also implementing strict access controls and using monitoring for abnormal behavior on the network… Has Renault really taken the data protection issue into account? In any case, this is not reflected in their communication.

My personal conclusion is that I’m not about to switch to a recent electric or hybrid car, given the central role played by digital technology in this type of product, and prefer to stay with older used cars, where digital technology plays a limited role. Unless, as in the case of smartphones, eFoundation and its de-Googlized OS end up attracting the interest of our automakers!