US could restrict Chinese software in cars
Let’s face it: (some) vehicles are essentially becoming smartphones on wheels. That is why the US Department of Commerce launched an investigation in February, looking into the national security threat posed by connected vehicles – especially if the software is from China.
“A car is a very scary thing. Your car knows a lot about you. Your car probably gets a software update, whether it’s an electric vehicle or an autonomous combustion engine vehicle,” Alan Estevez, Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security, said at a forum in Colorado per Reuters. “A modern car has a lot of software in it. It’s taking lots of pictures. It has a drive system. It’s connected to your phone. It knows who you call. It knows where you go. It knows a lot about you.”
According to Estevez, the inquiry launched earlier this year is not looking at the whole car but at “a few components and some software.” However, he emphasised that “it would be some of the key driver components of the vehicle that manage the software and manage the data around that car that would have to be made in an allied country.”
“It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to think of how foreign government with access to connected vehicles could pose a serious risk to both our national security and the personal privacy of US citizens,” US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in February.
The new restrictions could apply as early as August. It is not clear what will or would happen to cars with Chinese software already on the road in the US. Clearly, it is unthinkable to replace them all or disable the software.
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