Data Retention and Usage Policy
1. Purpose and scope
This policy explains what data Autonabit Limited collects from Avvy robots, why, how long we keep it, and the choices you have.
It applies to every Avvy robot sold or operated under a lease from Autonabit in New Zealand, and to robots sold through our authorised distributors in Australia. "You" means the business that leases or owns the robot. It forms part of your lease or purchase agreement.
We handle personal information under the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 and, where it applies, the Australian Privacy Act 1988.
2. What we collect
Avvy robots send two kinds of data to Autonabit's servers: telemetry and images.
| Data type | Examples | Can you opt out? |
|---|---|---|
| Telemetry | GPS position, route and speed, battery and motor state, sensor health, faults, alerts, operating hours, program and configuration changes | No — needed to operate, support and secure the robot |
| Images | Camera frames and short video clips of rows, crops, growing structures and the robot's surroundings | Yes — see section 5 |
The robot's cameras must stay on to navigate, whatever your image setting. Opting out controls what is stored on our servers, not what the robot sees while driving.
We do not collect audio.
3. How we use it
We use robot data for four purposes only:
- Operating and supporting your robot. Diagnosing faults, remote assistance, software updates and warranty claims.
- Improving navigation. When a robot meets something new, such as an unfamiliar crop, trellis or growing structure, we may use those images to train it to recognise rows. This improves navigation for your robot and the wider fleet.
- Investigating incidents. Reconstructing events leading up to theft, damage, collisions or safety events.
- Delivering features. Including plant counting, notifications and patrol programs.
We may also use telemetry, combined across the fleet with farm and customer identities removed, to improve reliability and plan product development.
We do not sell robot data, and we do not use it for advertising.
4. How long we keep it
We keep data only as long as we need it for the purposes in section 3, then delete or de-identify it.
| Data | Retention period | What happens next |
|---|---|---|
| Telemetry | Term of your agreement + 24 months | Deleted, or kept only in de-identified fleet statistics |
| Images (as captured) | 90 days | People removed or blurred; the image is then kept for improving Avvy or deleted |
| Images linked to an incident | Until the incident, claim or investigation is closed, plus 12 months | Deleted; people are not removed, as they may be evidence |
| Images with people removed | While useful for improving Avvy | Deleted when no longer needed; trained models are kept (see below) |
| Rolling security buffer (opted-out robots) | 7 days, overwritten | Deleted automatically and never used for training; if an incident is reported, the incident row applies |
When your lease or support agreement ends, you can ask us to delete your data early. We will do so within 30 days, except where we must keep it for an open incident, a legal claim or a legal obligation.
Models trained on your images belong to Autonabit. Deleting images removes them from future training, but does not remove what a model has already learned.
5. Image retention
Image retention is on by default. Any image we retain may be used to improve Avvy, including training it to recognise rows in new crops and growing structures. People are removed or blurred from images kept longer than 90 days (see section 6).
We don't charge an ongoing subscription for software updates or navigation improvements. Letting us retain and learn from your images is one of the main ways customers help improve Avvy, for their own robots and the whole fleet.
You can turn image retention off at any time, per robot or for your whole fleet, by contacting us. Images are then kept only in a 7-day security buffer and are never used for training.
Telemetry is always retained. We need it to operate the robot safely, support it and locate it if stolen.
What changes if you turn off image retention
| Affected | Effect |
|---|---|
| Support | We can diagnose faults from telemetry only, so some issues will take longer or may not be resolvable remotely |
| Navigation improvements | Your robot won't receive improvements trained on your site's crops or structures |
| Theft and incidents | Only the 7-day rolling buffer is available for investigation |
Changing a setting applies from that point on. Turning image retention off does not delete images already stored; ask us if you want them deleted.
6. People in images
Robot cameras point at crops, but people working nearby or passing by may be captured. We treat images of people as personal information.
- We do not use images to identify people, and we do not use facial recognition.
- Images kept longer than 90 days are automatically processed to detect people, who are then removed or blurred. This does not apply to images linked to an open incident or claim. Detection is highly accurate but not perfect, so we review samples to check it.
- We only review images of people when investigating an incident or resolving a support issue.
As the site operator, you agree to tell your staff, contractors and visitors that robots with cameras operate on site. In Australia, you are responsible for any notice your state's workplace surveillance laws require.
7. Ownership and sharing
Data from your robots is held by Autonabit. To the extent you have any rights in it, you grant Autonabit a royalty-free, worldwide licence to use, copy and modify it to operate, support and improve Autonabit products. The licence lasts for as long as we hold the data under section 4, including after your agreement ends. The licence transfers with the Autonabit business. Autonabit owns all models, software and other material derived from the data, permanently; deleting data does not affect them.
You can view images through Autonabit Dashboard features such as notifications and patrol reports. We are not obliged to provide copies or bulk exports of images.
We share robot data only in these cases:
- Police and insurers, when investigating theft, damage or another incident involving your robot. We will tell you unless the law prevents it.
- Our authorised distributor, for Australian robots. They see the same Autonabit Dashboard you do, to support your robot, and have no other access to historical data.
- Service providers that host or process data for us, under contracts requiring them to protect it.
- When required by law, such as a court order.
We do not share images or identifiable telemetry with other customers. Fleet-wide improvements, such as better row detection, are shared through software updates, never as your raw data.
Our servers are located in New Zealand.
8. Security
Data is encrypted in transit between robots and our servers, and access is limited to Autonabit staff who need it for support, engineering or incident work.
If a privacy breach is likely to cause serious harm, we will notify you, affected individuals and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner as the Privacy Act requires.
9. Your rights, changes and contact
You can ask us at any time to:
- send you a copy of telemetry from your robots
- change your image retention settings
- delete images, subject to section 4
We will respond within 20 working days.
We may update this policy. We will give you at least 30 days' notice of any change that expands how we use your data, and any new use will not apply to data collected before the change without your agreement.
Questions or requests: Josh McCulloch, Autonabit Limited, [email protected], Christchurch, New Zealand.