Five Maine legislators indicated interest in the telematics language included in the final report of the state’s Automotive Right to Repair Working Group.
During a March 13 briefing on the final report submitted by the group to the Maine Legislature’s Joint Committee on Housing and Economic Development, lawmakers questioned how loosely the working group intended to define “telematics,” whether telematics were required for repairs, and whether working group members intended to require manufacturers to give geolocation information via telematics systems.
Democratic Rep. Tiffany Roberts asked whether the working group considered whether telematics data was necessary to repair vehicles.
Testifying before the committee, Maine Chief Deputy Attorney General Christopher Taub said he’s not aware of any specific repair that repair shops couldn’t complete because they didn’t have access to telematics data.
However, the working group’s report reflects it may become necessary to provide some standardization for all car manufacturers in providing telematics data. The report also notes a batch of non-binding “best practices” could also be issued for how manufacturers provide telematics to independent repair shops.
At some point, new cars might not have an on-board diagnostics (OBD) port, Taub said. “I think [the report language] is somewhat anticipatory to account for that situation,” he added.
Republican Rep. Mark Walker asked whether the report’s mention of telematics would cover various locations, such as the property of the manufacturer providing telematics.
“The only information that manufacturers are going to be providing are for diagnostics and repair for the vehicle,” Taub responded. “It’s not, ‘Where was the vehicle Tuesday night?’ Because that information is not necessary to diagnose or repair the vehicle.”
Later in the hearing, Walker asked whether telematics might mean something different to every car manufacturer, due to their own respective proprietary definitions.
“Telematics means information about the vehicle that’s transmitted remotely,” Taub responded. “It might be that some manufacturers collect a lot of information, and some manufacturers collect less information, but the statute is narrowed in the sense that it only applies to telematics data that’s necessary for diagnosis, repair or maintenance.”
So, telematics will encompass a smaller subset of the total amount of information collected by each carmaker, he added.
Democratic Committee Chair Sen. Chip Curry asked whether telematics “data just flows in” for manufacturers from automobiles.
Taub said for some manufacturers, that’s the case, but in other cases, telematics data flow to car owners, prompting them to call the dealer to more deeply examine issues with the car. At that point, Taub said, car dealers can order parts and have them ready for whenever owners bring their cars in for repair.
Republican Rep. Amanda Collamore expressed concerns around telematics and safety; for instance, if a telematics system signaled to turn off the brakes for examination, that could create a problem if it were to wrongly trigger a car to roll down a hill.
Taub responded that the working group’s consensus was that manufacturers would not be able to initiate telematic commands to vehicles in an unsafe way.
“If you’re going to release the brakes of the vehicle, that’s not something that would be safe to do remotely, or even if you’re going to remotely trigger the horn,” he said. “That might not be something that you do remotely because of safety concerns. So, I think that the thought was that the manufacturers are not going to provide the ability to send those kinds of commands.”
Republican Rep. Arthur Mingo said he doesn’t see how Maine right to repair telematics provisions would encompass older cars with OBD ports.
In response, Taub stopped short of correlating the telematics provisions with older cars’ diagnostic systems. However, he indicated the working group prioritized telematics provisions in light of the likelihood that future vehicles might not have OBD ports.
“There might not be any way to access information for those vehicles other than some wireless telematic system,” he said.
The committee will now start work on legislation to implement and enforce state right to repair regulations, including the creation of an independent entity to oversee management of the law.
Brian Bradley