Cybertruck tracking in Las Vegas case raises privacy concerns
Tesla's response to a Cybertruck explosion outside President-elect Trump's Las Vegas hotel on New Year's Day has raised serious concerns about vehicle data and privacy.
Investigators say 37-year-old Matthew Livelsberger killed himself moments before the rented Cybertruck exploded. Investigators are still sifting through evidence, but Tesla has already made statements that show how much data the company was collecting.
Some of the first answers in the case came from Tesla founder Elon Musk, who wrote on social platform X that "we have [now] confirmed that the explosion was caused by very large fireworks or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cyber truck and is unrelated to the vehicle itself. All vehicle telemetry was positive at the time of the explosion."
That indicates the Cybertruck was transmitting data up until the explosion. Las Vegas Metro Police and the FBI have been using that data to help piece together the case.
"I have to thank Elon Musk specifically for being able to capture all of the video from the Tesla charging stations across the country," one official said. "He sent that directly to us. We tracked his movements through the Tesla charging station to Monument. Colorado, on December 30. On the 31st of December, the truck was charged in Trinidad, Colorado; Las Vegas, New Mexico; and Albuquerque and Gallup, New Mexico."
Authorities confirmed that the Cybertruck was not in full self-driving mode at any point during the incident.
Investigators have also recovered a microchip from the vehicle. They have not shared any video from inside the truck, which could yield even more information, but this is still the most high-profile example of how modern cars collect information on their drivers and those around them.
Tesla is not the only brand to collect this data, with most automobile companies engaging in similar activities.
A 2023 study from the Mozilla Foundation found that 75 percent of car brands said they can share or sell driver data, and 84 percent of car brands said they can share driver's personal data, with 76 percent saying they can sell your personal data.
That has privacy experts warning that people's own cars are the most heavily surveilled part of their day-to-day lives.