Tesla is on the news this morning because of an alleged ban on its vehicles in Chinese military complexes, but here’s why this isn’t really a big deal.
This morning, several news outlets are running some versions of the headline: “Tesla has been banned from Chinese military bases”.
Based on the headlines, you would think that the Chinese military considers Tesla vehicles to be time bombs that can pose a danger, but it is far less harmful than that.
The news comes from a statement that the People’s Liberation Army, China’s military, released on one of its bases asking Tesla owners not to park vehicles on the bases and in housing estates:
There are concerns that Tesla vehicles are equipped with multiple cameras that record and send data back to Tesla to improve its autopilot and fully autonomous steering system.
The military has rules on registration on their property, and Tesla vehicle systems can break them.
That’s it.
Obviously, the US had similar concerns about consumer products from China spying on them, such as the U.S. ban on Huawei or DJI products being recently added to the U.S. Entity List.
However, more specifically in relation to Tesla vehicles, when US police departments started looking at Tesla vehicles as potential patrol vehicles, they had some similar concerns about the implication of Tesla’s camera systems in sharing Dice.
Tesla gives owners the option to accept video data sharing as part of their Autopilot and Full Self-Driving program.
Ultimately, a police department even worked with Tesla to use the cameras in Tesla vehicles for its patrol vehicles, instead of using third-party cameras installed in the aftermarket.
But we expect the problem of Tesla-controlled smart cameras to become a more complicated problem in the case of security in the coming months and years. What do you think?
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