Also there's the issue of liability. Inevitably, autonomous vehicles will be involved in accidents. If the manufacturer has telemetry, they can prove their car was not at fault if the accident was caused by something else. Without stored telemetry, the legal risks for manufacturers seem much greater.

It's only tricky because there isn't an "off" button. That's the problem, it's forced on your rather than optional.

Would you take an 'off' button, but with the caveat that put the burden of proof on you if you were in an accident while telemetry is off?

No, I'm not willing to compromise my privacy in any way. I haven't had a ticket since l996 and refuse to install the insurance company monitoring tool.

That's one major reason companies will want all this telemetry. (And will it be streaming video over cell networks, dumping once back on home wifi?) Perhaps homomorphic encryption can help achieve both aims, or sending back aggregated data only.