Climate Progress and Connected-Car Privacy: Two Technology Stories Worth Watching

The technology sector is producing contradictory signals on climate and public trust.

On one side, climate setbacks are becoming harder to ignore: warming is expected to pass the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C threshold within the next few years, climate policies are being weakened in the United States, and extreme heat, wildfires, and floods continue to cause serious harm. On the other, companies are still developing technologies that could reduce emissions, improve resilience, and protect people from worsening environmental risks.

At the same time, connected cars are creating new privacy problems. A study of 21 vehicles from 19 brands found traffic to automakers, advertisers, and tracking services, as well as data shared with technology companies including Microsoft and Adobe. The research also found that using a car’s companion app can increase the amount of data moving through the system.

Climate technology is advancing despite worsening conditions

A preview of a 2026 list of climate technology companies argues that climate pessimism can obscure genuine progress. Businesses are continuing to develop and deploy:

• Renewable energy systems
• Batteries and other energy-storage technologies
• Electric vehicles
• Cleaner industrial processes
• Tools for protecting cities and communities from extreme weather

The progress does not erase the damage already occurring or guarantee that the world will meet the Paris Agreement’s most ambitious temperature target. The preview describes political and economic headwinds alongside the continued development of climate technologies.

Climate technology remains a source of practical progress even as climate conditions deteriorate. Lower costs, public demand for action, and the economic and health benefits of cleaner systems may continue to drive adoption.

What the 2026 climate-tech list is intended to identify

The forthcoming list is intended to identify companies that have done the most, or have the best chance, to make a meaningful contribution to reducing emissions or improving public safety and health.

The editorial process described in the preview includes:

1. Compiling a broad group of companies from around the world.
2. Drawing on industry knowledge and academic sources.
3. Considering companies involved in energy, manufacturing, transportation, and climate resilience.
4. Narrowing the candidates through several rounds of newsroom discussion.
5. Selecting 10 companies for the final list.

The companies had not been disclosed in the supplied preview. It describes the selection process rather than naming the 2026 companies.

Connected cars create a different kind of technology risk

The connected-car study examined network activity from 21 vehicles representing 19 brands. Researchers tested cars in several situations, including while parked, idling, and being driven. They also examined how the vehicles behaved when their cellular connections were blocked by placing 11 electric cars in a Faraday tent.

The findings described in the supplied material include several broad patterns:

• Every tested connected car contacted a domain operated by its automaker.
• Traffic also reached advertisers and tracking services.
• Some data was shared with large technology companies, including Microsoft and Adobe.
• Using a vehicle’s companion app could increase the privacy problem.
• Network behavior differed across experimental scenarios.

The study builds on a 2023 review by the Mozilla Foundation, which examined the privacy policies of more than two dozen automakers. That earlier work relied on reading and evaluating the policies. The newer research attempted to observe what vehicles actually transmitted over networks.

That distinction matters. Privacy policies describe what a company says it may collect, use, or share. Network testing provides evidence about how a product behaves in particular circumstances. Neither method necessarily reveals every item of data being processed.

Why the researchers could not see every data packet

The researchers attempted to inspect the contents of the vehicles’ data transmissions using modified certificates. Those efforts failed for every vehicle tested.

Even without reading the payloads, the researchers could still analyze several forms of network metadata:

• The internet domains contacted through DNS traffic
• Server Name Indication information from encrypted TLS connections
• The timing and volume of transmissions
• Changes in behavior under different experimental conditions

This information can reveal who a vehicle is communicating with and when, but it does not necessarily identify every field contained in an encrypted transmission. The findings therefore support conclusions about network destinations and communication patterns more directly than conclusions about the precise contents of every message.

The study’s results still raise questions about how automakers and third parties handle data associated with connected vehicles, particularly when a vehicle is linked to a driver, passengers, or an account in a companion application. Network destinations alone, however, do not establish the specific use of personal information unless the study directly demonstrated that use.

Why companion apps may increase exposure

The study found that using a car’s companion app can multiply the privacy problem. That suggests the app should be considered a separate data-collection channel rather than simply an interface for the vehicle.

The supplied material does not establish that every app collects the same categories of information or shares them with the same recipients. Its narrower conclusion is that using a connected-car app can change the vehicle’s data behavior and deserves separate scrutiny.

The broader lesson from the two stories is that technological progress should be evaluated alongside its consequences. Climate technologies may help reduce emissions or improve resilience, while connected products may create new forms of data collection and sharing. In both cases, claims about benefits need to be considered alongside evidence about how systems work in practice.

Sources

• Coming soon: Our 2026 list of Climate Tech Companies to Watch, published September 29, 2026. https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/09/29/1145183/2026-climate-tech-companies-to-watch-preview/
• This study looks at how and with whom connected cars share your data, published September 29, 2026. No URL was provided in the supplied source material.