China bans Tesla entry into military over security concerns

New Delhi: The Chinese military has banned Tesla Inc’s vehicles for military and government personnel, citing potential data security risk posed by the cameras built in the vehicles.

The Chinese government officials believe that the sensors inside the car could record images of surroundings and might acquire data on when and how the vehicle will being used, personal information and contact list of the driver synced to the phone.

Like other automobile manufacturers, Tesla uses the internal camera to support with assistance while auto-driving, parking and auto-parking functions.

Earlier, The US electric car maker Tesla Inc stated that a hacking incident was reported on Tuesday, restricted to the supplier’s production site in Henan, China. The showrooms and car factories in Shanghai were not affected.

Tesla China stated that the hacking incident was only involved with the supplier’s production sites in Henan province and Shanghai’s showroom and car factory was unaffected by the incident.

The data from the supplier’s factory was locally stored and no security risk was mentioned in the hacking incident. The factory’s cameras stopped functioning or linking with the internet.

Chinese regulators summoned Tesla’s representatives after the technical problems with their cars was reported, concerned about the safety, officials stated on Monday

“Consumers have cited multiple problems, related to unusual accelerations, batteries catching fire, as well as with the remote update system,” the State Administration for Market Regulation made the statement.

“They were asked to strictly conform to Chinese laws and regulations” in order to “guarantee public security” and the “rights and legitimate interests of consumers”, the regulator remarked.

Earlier in 2019, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla had said that the inner cameras in their cars were “for when we start competing with Uber/Lyft and people allow their car to earn money for them as part of the Tesla shared autonomy fleet.”

“In case someone messes up your car, you can check the video,” he further added.

The automaker have built more than 700 supercharging stations in China