Members of the People’s Liberation Army, desperate to drive to work with all the style and bewilderment that Elon Musk’s oversized cars offer, seemingly unlucky. Citing “national security” concerns, the Chinese government has reportedly banned the use of Tesla vehicles by state and military employees on certain government properties.
According to reports from Wall Street Journal i Bloomberg, the People’s Republic of China is allegedly concerned that Tesla’s high-tech cars could be a source of foreign data leakage or espionage. Of particular concern is the high number of sensors and internal cameras installed in Tesla vehicles, which could be used to channel sensitive data “to the United States,” government officials worry.
The ban-related order was allegedly issued by the Chinese military and restricts government officials from using vehicles on certain government and military properties, as well as from “Leading to housing buildings for families of staff working in sensitive industries and state agencies.” The ban follows a “government security review” of Tesla by the government, WSJ reports, which appeared to be not going too well.
The review expressed concern about the data collected by the vehicles and Tesla, including the location data of the vehicle and the contact lists of the mobile phones synchronized with the car’s internal systems.
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We recently covered as the modern car is basically a treasure trove of personal data (which can be shared, sold or stolen), so China’s concerns cannot be without merit.
In addition, Tesla has had a handful dubious security incidents along the years. In 2016, security researchers —in China, no more and no less—he proved it they could remotely hack company cars via their wifi; hackers had the ability to pump the brakes, pull the trunk and turn the vehicle windshield wipers on and off. A recent episodes in which a hacker was able to access hundreds of the company’s internal security cameras through an external vendor has also raised concerns.
The ban is also indicative of how the technology industry has become a domain of the US-China political conflict. Under President Trump, the US moved to repress aggressively for any Chinese technology company, he considered a threat to “national security”: effectively listing dozens of companies and trying to censor their access to the American public and, at the same time, eliminate them from financial investment. That China responds in kind seems almost the same.