Generate money and benefits with your own vehicle data

Startup MyAutoData introduces vehicle reader and digital assistants for trip and mobility data

Munich, 23 October 2020: Data sovereignty rethought. The MAUD (MyAutoData) mobility data platform offers car drivers three options: Earn money with their own vehicle data, use a marketplace to access attractive offers relating to cars and manage their data securely in one single place. MAUD is now expanding its range of services and offers an additional premium version, and car enthusiasts can now also communicate with each other. Via the MAUD Connect app and an OBD Bluetooth adapter, users can automatically save their journey and driving data. Depending on driving behaviour, an intelligent digital assistant (IDA) provides valuable tips and appointment reminders, with which the user can save money. The basic version of MAUD is free of charge - here the data must still be entered manually. Since the launch of the platform in July 2020, several thousand users have already joined the MAUD community. The MAUD Connect App is now available as Android and iOS version at Google Play and Apple App Store. 

Cars today are connected on many levels - with online-based service providers, the manufacturer or entertainment providers. The vehicle data collected in this way is more valuable than ever before and is used by corporations - for marketing and development purposes, for example. Many consumers are unaware that their vehicle data is a real treasure trove. Insurance, registration, MOT, repair, leasing, purchase or the journey data - until now, there was no way for consumers to store this data digitally in one place and securely protect it from unauthorised access by third parties and utilize it themselves. The start-up company MyAutoData from Munich has set itself the goal of changing just this with the MAUD data vault (MAUD®DataSafe).  

Premium version ensures automatic recording and analysis 

For an annual subscription of €69, the premium version offers the following benefits: 

• A freely definable, clearly arranged display of journeys and driving behaviour (private, business, additional drivers) over the past 180 days. As with the static data, users can view, manage and benefit from the dynamic data themselves. 
   

• A personal Big Data that lets you generate detailed cost analyses and simulations at the touch of a button. For example: how does the total cost per kilometre or day change if the price of fuel rises to €3? Or what percentage of the monthly household budget is accounted for by the costs of your vehicles?  
   

• An intelligent digital assistant (IDA) provides valuable tips on how users can save money based on their driving behaviour. For example: Does the driving style qualify the user for a cheaper insurance tariff? Is the agreed mileage in the leasing contract likely to be exceeded? Or what percentage of the monthly household budget is taken up by the vehicle costs? 

For an annual subscription of €99, there is Premium+, which in addition to Premium provides a fully integrated logbook approved by the tax authorities. 

The idea behind MAUD 

MyAutoData, MAUD for short, functions as a closed ecosystem: vehicle owners can manage their data here in a self-determined, protected manner and also earn money with an access authorisation that is granted to the participating companies. Or they can save money through discounted offers, for example from insurance companies. MAUD also functions as a logbook. Companies can query the released information in a legally secure and GDPR-compliant manner. On the integrated marketplace (MAUD®Marketplace), users receive offers of services and products for their vehicles at the push of a button. Membership is free for vehicle owners and companies.  

The idea for MAUD came from Manfred Heiss. Heiss, who had worked for many years in management at the software company Oracle, promoted digitisation at BMW and wrote for the German government's Data Protection Foundation as an author, actually only wanted to build up a private data storage facility for himself. This then developed into the MyAutoData project. His many years of know-how as a software and data specialist in the automotive industry helped Heiss to develop the platform into what it offers today.  

Data sovereignty as the core of the platform 

Heiss explains: "The car manufacturers and IT giants like Amazon and Google make a lot of money with our data - even though they don't own it. The realisation that we are actually the legal owners of our data is not only confirmed by the GDPR, but also increases the need for self-determination". So why leave the field to the big corporations alone? Heiss wants to change that. And so, the idea was born to simply imitate them. But better and more effective for all concerned. 

Win-win situation for consumers and businesses 

With MAUD, vehicle owners worldwide have the opportunity to manage their data securely and self-determined and to earn money with it. To make this work, audited companies can carry out analyses of the released data on the platform for a fee. The data is largely anonymised and can only be extracted from the platform in this way. The user decides for himself which data he wants to activate and can undo this at any time.  

Companies such as car dealers, car insurers or garages receive highly up-to-date, high-quality and legally compliant real-time data directly from the owners on the platform, and this across all manufacturers and for all vehicles and vehicles. An advantage for the vehicle owners: On the MAUD Marketplace they can request service offers for their own car or motorbike, e.g. from workshops, with just one click - the users thus only receive relevant offers and always the best price-performance ratio.  

Marketplace principle is reversed: C2B instead of B2C 

At MAUD, companies can only post their offers in response to concrete, real requests or send individualised advertising if the vehicle owner so wishes. Via the C2B marketplace they receive leads through direct requests for quotations from vehicle owners, generate new sales and customer potential and save on advertising costs and customer acquisition. 

Closed system ensures safety 

In addition, MAUD protects its members' data in the best possible way against cyber attacks by breaking down the data and storing it in different databases. These databases as well as the servers are additionally cryptically encrypted. Access to data is only possible within the system by the respective user, never by other persons or even from outside. "We neither sell nor market e-mail addresses or data to third parties," says Heiss. 

The software was implemented in a strictly confidential project in cooperation with the data specialised software company Itransition - which has already realised projects for customers such as eBay or PayPal. During the three-year development phase MAUD was tested again and again for security and practical suitability. 

MAUD is a closed system. The MAUD web app was developed with open source tools and is compatible with all modern browsers, operating systems and end devices. The MAUD Connect app has also been developed for easy provision of journey data. It transfers data directly into the personal data storage of the vehicle owner. The app works with both iOS and Android devices. 

For more information on MAUD and the premium version, please visit https://myautodata.com/en.

MyAutoData launched premium version with app and car adapter      Photocredit: MyAutoData   Photos at the end of the notification.

About MyAutoData 

MyAutoData GmbH was founded in 2019 by the former manager at database provider Oracle and data protection specialist Manfred Heiss. As a mobility platform for vehicle data, myautodata.com's aim is to store vehicle data in a secure and immediately accessible location in digitally encrypted form. MyAutoData (MAUD) is a free DSGVO-compliant database for personal data such as insurance data, registration data, MOT data, repair invoices, leasing data, purchase data and optionally data on driving style and journeys (transaction data). Users can store and analyse their vehicle data on the platform and earn money with it in a self-determined way. On the MAUD Marketplace, vehicle owners can request offers for their own car or motorbike from workshops, for example, with just one click - users thus only receive relevant offers with the best price-performance ratio. The MAUD platform and the MAUD Connect app were developed by MyAutoData itself. The data is encrypted and distributed across several databases on servers in Germany. 

Further information can be found at https://myautodata.com/en.

Pressekontakt: 

DEDERICHS REINECKE & PARTNER 

Agentur für Öffentlichkeitsarbeit 

Manuel Krieg 

Schulterblatt 58
Werkhalle
20357 Hamburg
Tel.: + 49 40 20 91 98 278
Fax: + 49 40 20 91 98 299
Email: manuel.krieg@dr-p.de
http://www.dr-p.de