b'RIGHT TO REPAIR: Major Victory on Telematics, Whats Next? The auto care indus-and not the ownerare becoming the gate-try scored a majorkeeper for access to a vehicles diagnostic victory on Telematicsand repair data, ultimately permitting the car data in November:company to control who has access and under WhatsNext? what terms. By Aaron Lowe, SVP,Question 1, now a state law, seeks to place the Government andowner of the vehicle, not the manufacturers, Regulatory Affairs,incontroloftheirvehiclesdiagnosticand Auto Care Association repair data. Under Question 1, Massachusetts car owners will be able to directly access their OnNovember3rd,theindependentvehiclevehiclesmechanicaldata,aswellasshare serviceindustryscoredamajorwinwhenthatdatawiththerepairshopwherethey votersinMassachusettsoverwhelminglychoose to do business. approved a ballot question on telematics by aSpecifically, Question 1 would:75-25% margin. Considering that the vehicle manufacturersspentover$25milliontoRequirevehiclestobeequippedwithastan-defeat what was known as Question 1, thedardized and open access platform capable of voteinMassachusettswasamajoraccom- securely communicating all telematics data via direct data connection to the platform.plishment. Permitthevehicleownertoauthorizerepair Every single town in the state voted in favor offacility to access mechanical data directly from Question 1, demonstrating both the desire ofvehicle for repair purposes.vehicleownerstohaveacompetitiverepairProvideshopswiththeabilitytosendcom-industryandthattheystronglyvaluethemands to in-vehicle components if needed for services provided by their local independentpurposesofmaintenance,diagnosticsand repair shop.repair.What would Question 1 mean forProhibit requiring authorization from a vehicle manufacturer for access to on-board diagnostic our industry? system unless the authorization process is stan-dardized across all makes and models.A growing number of late-model vehicles are equipped with telematics systems capable of wirelessly transmitting huge amounts of data necessary to diagnose and repair vehicles. All of this data lows directly and exclusively to themanufacturerofthevehicle.Morecon-cerning,manymanufacturersarebeginning to lock down their on-board diagnostic (OBD) systems, requiring car company authorization before an independent shop can have access to repair a vehicle. Bottom line, manufacturers31 8'