In an iconic scene from the 2002 sci-fi film Minority Report, on-the-run Agent John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise, struggles to walk through a mall as hes targeted by a multitude of personalized ads from the likes of Lexus, Guinness and American Express, everytime hidden detectors identify his eyes.

It was clearly meant as a warning about a not-so-desirable dystopian future.

Recommended Videos Yet, 23 years later that future is at least partlially here in the online world and threatens to spread to other areas of daily life which are increasingly connected, such as the inside of cars. And the new testing grounds, according to online security researcher Jane Manchun Wong, might very well be automated-driving vehicles, such as Waymos robotaxis.

On X, Wong unveiled an unreleased version of Waymos privacy policy that suggests the California-based company is preparing to use data from its robotaxis, including interior cameras, to train generative AI models and to offer targetted ads.

Waymo may share data to improve and analyze its functionality and to tailor products, services, ads, and offers to your interests, the Waymos unreleased privacy statement reads. You can opt out of sharing your information with third parties, unless its necessary to the functioning of the service.

Asked for comments about the unreleased app update, Waymo toldThe Verge that it contained placeholder text that doesnt accurately reflect the features purpose.

Waymos AI-models are not designed to use this data to identify individual people, and there are no plans to use this data for targeted ads, spokesperson Julia Ilina said.

Waymos robotaxis, which are operating on the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin, do contain onboard cameras that monitor riders. But Ilina says these are mainly used to train AI models for safety, finding lost items, check that in-car rules are followed, and to improve the service.

The new feature is still under development and offers riders an opportunity to opt out of data collection, Ilina says.

But as we all get used to ads targeting based on everything thats somehow connected to the web, it seems a once-distant vision of the future may be just around the corner.