
Car-Mounted Ads Take a New Direction: Data Collection - pseudolus
https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2019/11/firefly-digital-advertising-driver-pay-uber-lyft-cars-data/602077/
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shostack
I couldn't help but notice some of the internal comms wires that were
seemingly crossed between Firefly's CRO and their Product team (and the police
apparently).

>"When you look at that density in major cities, we do have the potential to
collect significant amounts of data. The question is what to do with that
data.” (After this story was published, a Firefly representative said the
company was “not questioning what to do with that data.”)"

>"But he said they’ve been “contemplating” and “testing lightly” a feature
where the screens pick up noise off the street with built-in microphones.
(Noise sensors are not part of last week’s roll-out. A Firefly representative
stressed to CityLab after publication that Hudes has nothing to do with the
product team where these decisions would be made, and that all his mentions of
such a feature are hypothetical and are not part of the company’s roadmap.)"

>"Acoustic data cross-referenced with GPS coordinates might help police
identify where the shot came from, and from what direction. The San Francisco
police department says that “never had such a discussion with a Firefly
representative about this hypothetical use of this technology.” They did meet
with a representative “to discuss the possibility of featuring public safety
messages on the display screens,” but have no formal agreement, and have “no
plans to move forward with an agreement.”

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winternett
The bottom line of all the pay for ad mounting that goes around in the world,
it would be really great to see how much profit it really returns, minus all
the expenses...

I've implemented ads on web sites before, and though they weren't high traffic
sites, they still made thousands of hits every month and ad revenue was
nowhere near the hours it too to implement and configure ads across them.

Side revenue is a great thing when it works, but there are so many pyramid
schemes when it comes to ride sharing, house sharing, office space sharing,
scooter sharing and everything else, it's making me wonder if all the people
that used to sell AMWAY and Tupperware are at the bottom of this one. Maybe
I'm being cynical... But putting a billboard on top of my car for $300 a month
doesn't justify the wear and tear to even a hooptie, and the damage it will do
the one time I forget it's on and drive through an automated car wash. :/

