Inter-regional Lens on the Privacy Preferences of Drivers for ITS and Future VANETs

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are on the rise, yet the knowledge about privacy preferences by different types of drivers in this context needs to be improved. This paper presents survey-based research (N = 528) focusing on preferences of drivers from South Africa and the Nordic countries for data processing and sharing by ITS, including future vehicular ad hoc networks. Our results indicate regionally framed drivers’ privacy attitudes and behaviours. South African participants have higher privacy concerns and risk perception. However, their preferences to share location data with police, family and friends, emergency services, and insurance companies are higher. Moreover, the region significantly affects preferences for transparency and control and sharing frequency, as well as willingness to pay for privacy, which are higher among the South Africans. We discuss how our results on factors, including region, impacting drivers’ privacy preferences can contribute to the design of usable privacy and identity management for ITS.