China fears Tesla cars could act as spies

Chinese authorities reportedly fear that Tesla’s electric vehicles could record sensitive location information and send data to the United States.

While the Elon Musk-led company has ramped up production in the country, including a major Model 3 and Model Y factory in Shanghai, Chinese officials now fear cameras or sensors on the cars could be a security risk.

As a result of the concerns, the use of Tesla cars will be restricted at Chinese government agencies, military facilities and housing complexes and some state-owned businesses, the newspaper said.

A government-led review of the technology inside the California-based firm’s suite of electric cars reportedly led to the decision, with officials concerned that sensors could potentially record images of locations or expose data of drivers—including mobile phone contact lists that are synced up to the car’s internal computer system.

Workers of government agencies have been asked to stop driving Tesla cars to work or complexes used to house families of those working in sensitive industries. One fear was data could be sent back to the U.S., sources said.

Bloomberg reports that notices, which said that Tesla’s cameras and sensors may “expose locations” and compromise confidential Chinese military information, appeared to be circulating on Chinese social media this week.

The Chinese government was concerned that it could not see or control what data was being collected by Tesla, Bloomberg said, adding that the military order purportedly advised owners of Tesla vehicles to park outside of any military property.

Tesla makes no secret about the fact its electric vehicles are packed full of sensors. In fact, they are a critical component in facilitating its assisted driving features.

All new Tesla cars have advanced hardware capable of providing Autopilot features as standard, with full self-driving capabilities coming in the future.

“Eight surround cameras provide 360 degrees of visibility around the car at up to 250 meters of range. Twelve updated ultrasonic sensors complement this vision, allowing for detection of… objects at nearly twice the distance of the prior system,” it said.