By transforming data from connected vehicles and devices into actionable insights, INRIX helps unlock powerful use cases for our customers– but data privacy remains at the core of everything we do, ensuring that while we drive progress, we always protect individual privacy.
Whether it’s empowering cities to design safer streets for pedestrians and cyclists, helping states reduce congestion, or enabling delivery drivers to take more efficient routes, location-based data holds tremendous value for transportation agencies, businesses, and drivers alike.
Data has the power to drive meaningful progress, but with that power comes the responsibility to protect it. At INRIX, we are dedicated to safeguarding individual privacy while delivering impactful solutions. As privacy regulations continue to evolve, we remain focused on balancing the protection of personal data with preserving its utility to help the world move smarter, safer, and greener.
What Data Does INRIX Use?
To create our Transportation Intelligence solutions, INRIX uses location-based GPS data from various trusted suppliers. This data typically includes hashed device identifiers, which are often rotated daily or more frequently.
The data INRIX collects enables powerful applications, such as:
- Supporting transportation planners in designing safer roads and intersections.
- Providing alerts to drivers about upcoming slowdowns to prevent accidents.
- Monitoring traffic patterns to optimize signal timing and reduce congestion (and ultimately greenhouse gas emissions)
- Delivering aggregated insights to help businesses and governments make data-driven decisions related to their safety, sustainability, equity, and efficiency goals
Data Anonymization: Safeguarding Privacy Without Sacrificing Value
At INRIX, we take data privacy very seriously. Data anonymization is the cornerstone of protecting individual privacy while ensuring data remains actionable. It involves obfuscating or removing sensitive details, such as device identifiers, frequently visited locations, and movement patterns, so individuals cannot be easily identified. At INRIX, we have embedded data privacy into our operations from day one, ensuring that protecting privacy is more than a practice—it’s a principle.
Here’s how we do it:
- Data Scrubbing: Removing unnecessary details from datasets to eliminate potential privacy risks while retaining the insights necessary for transportation solutions.
- Anonymization Techniques: We receive anonymized data from suppliers and further de-identify it by hashing or rotating device identifiers.
- Start/End Point Obfuscation: Masking sensitive locations, such as homes, workplaces, schools, or places of worship, so they cannot be traced back to individuals.
- Device ID Rotation: Regularly rotating device identifiers to prevent tracking or profiling. This ensures that even if data is intercepted, it cannot be used to identify a specific person or vehicle.
- Aggregated Insights Only: INRIX does not collect or store personal identifiers. Our products display results only at the aggregate level, such as census block group data, ensuring no individual’s travel habits can be identified.
- Data Governance: Administrative access to raw, unprocessed data is restricted to a small, regularly reviewed group of employees. All data is processed in secured production data centers governed by industry-standard frameworks, including SOC 2 type 2,, ISO 9001:2015 and CIS Critical Security Controls.
- Supplier Vetting: We thoroughly vet all data suppliers to ensure they have the rights to provide the data. This includes conducting audits and enforcing strict contract requirements for data handling.
These methods enable us to support valuable use cases like optimizing traffic signal timing, improving road safety, providing real-time traffic conditions, and conducting regional planning studies, all while maintaining the trust of our data providers and customers. By ensuring privacy is upheld at every step, we allow agencies and businesses to use our Transportation Intelligence with confidence.
Our approach also adapts as technologies and privacy regulations evolve. We continuously refine our anonymization methods to address emerging challenges while maintaining the high-quality insights transportation professionals rely on.
Customer and Data Usage Guidelines and Privacy by Design
INRIX partners with a variety of customers, from transportation agencies to private businesses, to provide Transportation Intelligence. We have strict contract restrictions prohibiting the reverse engineering of our data to identify individuals. Additionally, customer sub-agencies under statewide licenses must adhere to data use agreements to ensure compliance with privacy standards.
We also have a cross functional data protection office that meets regularly to review our products and data use practices, make decisions on changes and new products to help ensure we are keeping privacy at the forefront and doing “privacy by design.”
Why It Matters
Transportation Intelligence has the power to tackle the world’s biggest mobility challenges like congestion, emissions, and safety. But trust is the foundation of progress. By embedding privacy into every step of our process, INRIX ensures that transportation agencies, businesses, and drivers can rely on our insights to shape the future without compromising personal privacy.
Navigating the balance between data privacy and utility is challenging but essential. At INRIX, we’re proud to lead the way in developing solutions that respect privacy while delivering transformative results for communities worldwide.
If you’re interested in learning more, INRIX Chief Product Officer, Ahmed Darrat, recently authored an article for ITS International that digs deeper into this topic titled Big Data & the Fine Art of Anonymity.