Fierce Wireless -- Audi CEO Rupert Stadler vowed to protect driver privacy in the age of the connected car, in an apparent snub of new market entrants including Google.

In a presentation to German executives in Berlin, Stadler warned that drivers' privacy is at risk from the push towards connected and self-driving cars, and that Audi is working with its domestic rivals to develop secure systems, Bloomberg reported.

Google chairman Eric Schmidt later told the same audience that the company wants to tap German companies' expertise to help it develop a European car strategy. The U.S. company has already worked with Audi and its parent Volkswagen, along with Opel, the German arm of General Motors, Bloomberg added.

Stadler believes that only drivers and their passengers should be able to access data collected by connected cars, Reuters reported, noting that marketers and advertisers are particularly interested in information relating to a vehicle's speed and location.

Read the rest here: http://www.fiercewireless.com/europe/story/audi-ceo-pledges-protect-driver-data-age-connected-car/2015-06-10