Highlights
- MyAutoData empowers consumers to control and monetize their automotive data with a personal data vault.
- GDPR and CCPA confirm consumers as rightful data owners, yet industry players often withhold access.
- Vehicles generate vast data (up to 25 GB/hour), much of which is monetized by OEMs and tech giants.
- Consumers can earn income by selectively sharing data through a regulated marketplace with insurers and dealerships.
- The platform supports sustainability initiatives by incentivizing environmentally friendly transportation via blockchain and crypto rewards.
- Market fit challenges include bootstrapped development and the crucial need for marketing to grow user and partner bases.
- Long-term vision extends to managing personal data beyond automotive, aiming for wide societal and economic impact.
Summary
In this episode of The Innovators and Investors Podcast, host Kristian Marquez interviews Manfred Heiss, founder of MyAutoData (MAUD) and president of MAUD Incorporated. The company was established in 2019 with a mission to empower consumers to regain ownership and control over their personal automotive data—a resource currently exploited by large corporations for profit without fair compensation to the data owners themselves. Manfred shares his extensive background in automotive software development, emphasizing the evolving significance of data privacy, ownership, and monetization amid the rising tide of connected cars and digital transformation in the automotive industry.
MyAutoData addresses three key types of data related to vehicles: static data (e.g., insurance policies, lease contracts), customer experience data (feedback on services), and dynamic data generated by vehicle sensors during driving (such as location and driving behavior). The uniqueness of MAUD lies in creating a personal “data vault” in the cloud, where consumers can securely store, manage, and selectively share their data while receiving monetary rewards and practical insights (e.g., cost savings, eco-friendly driving tips). Legislation such as GDPR and CCPA legally recognize individuals as the rightful data owners, but the industry is still catching up in honoring this principle.
Heiss highlights the gradual adoption of connected vehicle technology, noting that only about one-third of the world’s 1.5 billion vehicles are connected as of 2018, and vast amounts of data are generated and monetized by OEMs and big tech companies behind the backs of consumers. MyAutoData aims to democratize this data economy by allowing individuals to monetize access to their data via a regulated marketplace where companies such as insurers, dealerships, and municipalities can pay to access validated leads or mobility insights. This also enables consumers to save money on services and contribute to smarter city planning and environmental sustainability programs.
Moreover, MyAutoData is exploring blockchain and cryptocurrency to secure transactions and incentivize consumers to use environmentally friendly transportation options, creating an eco-conscious ecosystem that rewards green behaviors.
Manfred candidly discusses the challenges encountered in product development, market fit, and scaling the platform. Initial funding was primarily bootstrapped, limiting marketing reach, which he now sees as critical for customer acquisition and ecosystem growth. The strategy includes partnering with large membership organizations and expanding beyond traditional automotive players through affiliate marketing channels.
The vision for MAUD is vast, positioning personal data as a valuable asset—worth an estimated $1,400 per vehicle owner annually—and aiming to transform personal data management beyond automotive into areas like healthcare and property. Heiss emphasizes passion, persistence, and user-centric design as critical success factors, and he encourages young entrepreneurs to start early, focusing on building solutions people actually want. The company is actively engaging investors, governments, and tech partners to accelerate growth and impact.
Key Insights
- Consumer Data Ownership Is a Game Changer:
Legislation like GDPR and CCPA established that the individual owns their data, but the truth is the ecosystem is still catching up. Companies have been treating vehicle-generated data as their asset, while consumers remain unaware or powerless. MAUD’s approach makes data ownership tangible and actionable for consumers, representing a fundamental shift away from traditional data exploitation. This disrupts entrenched business models dependent on opaque data practices and positions consumers as active participants in the emerging data economy. - Three-Tier Data Classification Provides Comprehensive Control:
By separating automotive data into static (contracts, insurance), customer experience (service ratings), and dynamic (real-time telemetry) categories, MyAutoData provides structure and clarity for consumers who may otherwise feel overwhelmed by complex, diverse data types. This taxonomy not only enhances user understanding and control but also enables modular monetization strategies. Companies can target specific data segments for insights, while consumers tailor access permissions at granular levels, fostering trust and transparency. - Current Automotive Data Landscape Is Fragmented and Underutilized:
Despite 1.5 billion vehicles globally, only about one-third are connected, with the majority producing no dynamic data accessible for smart mobility or environmental solutions. This gap hinders urban planning, sustainability efforts, and innovation. MAUD’s platform bridges this by encouraging participation from both connected and non-connected vehicle owners, thus offering cities and businesses richer, more representative data sets to drive efficient policy and service development. - Monetization and Cost-Saving Are Strong User Motivators:
The ability to earn money from one’s data stands out as the most compelling consumer benefit, validated by market interest and pilot projects. This flips the traditional script where data is taken without payment. Furthermore, embedded AI analytics provide practical value through cost forecasts and behavior tips, enhancing user retention and satisfaction. The marketplace model, where companies pay consumers directly for leads or service offers, creates a fairer, more transparent data value chain. - Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Bring Transparency and Eco-Incentives:
Incorporating blockchain technology promises to secure data access transactions and maintain consumer custody over data usage history. The introduction of a proprietary cryptocurrency usable specifically for green transportation services integrates a behavioral economics dimension that could accelerate sustainable mobility adoption. This innovative incentive system could position MAUD not just as a data platform, but as a catalyst for social and environmental change driven by consumer choices. - Market Entry Strategy Balances Focus and Expansion:
Early mistakes such as overly broad scope and bootstrapped funding highlighted the importance of focus. The current go-to-market strategy targets high-potential regions (e.g., California), prioritizes partnerships with insurance companies, dealerships, and key memberships organizations like AAA to scale network effects. Additionally, affiliate marketing with large non-automotive firms is leveraged to accelerate user acquisition. This dual-pronged approach aims to solve the chicken-and-egg challenge between marketplace liquidity and user base growth. - Product Development Prioritized Privacy, Usability, and User-Centric Design:
Collaboration with Deloitte led to a redesign emphasizing removal of hardware dependencies (e.g., no OBD dongles), enhanced privacy, emergency services integration, and driver scoring. Preserving user control and privacy builds trust, particularly in privacy-sensitive markets like Germany and California. This user-first approach is critical in gaining consumer adoption and differentiates MAUD from telematics products that currently give data control to insurers or OEMs. - Vision Beyond Automotive Reflects Data’s Ubiquity:
While starting in automotive, MyAutoData envisions a future where individuals manage all forms of personal data—health, property, finance—with the same principles of ownership, control, and monetization. This holistic, decentralized data stewardship model has the potential to surpass tech giants like Meta, reshaping data economies, empowering consumers, advancing sustainability, and generating new forms of wealth creation and social impact. - Passion and Persistence Are Core to Entrepreneurial Success:
Manfred’s reflections on his journey highlight the necessity of starting early, continuous adaptation, and user validation. He underscores that while experience is valuable, youth brings freedom and risk-tolerance. His commitment to social good over personal wealth exemplifies a mission-driven entrepreneurial mindset needed to tackle complex systemic issues such as data democratization and climate change.
Conclusion
Manfred Heiss’s work with MyAutoData represents a pioneering effort to wrest control of personal automotive data back to consumers and unlock the economic and environmental value trapped therein. Through a combination of innovative technology, data privacy adherence, marketplace economics, and emerging blockchain incentives, the company aims to build a new data ecosystem that benefits individuals, businesses, and society at large. The evolving market dynamics, legal landscape, and technological maturation position this initiative at the forefront of a broader data ownership revolution, promising to redefine how data-driven industries and consumers interact in the digital age.
Stay in touch with Manfred Heiss and his work with MyAutoData.
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