China warns against intelligent vehicles posing security risks. Here's why

After banning Tesla electric cars from its military and residential compounds, China is now gearing up to adopt stringent measures to guard against Internet and data security risks posed by the development of intelligent vehicles, as per an official of the information technology ministry. Intelligent vehicles pose risks involving the unauthorised collection of personal data, added the official.

The official was quoted saying that the automobile industry regulators will be asked to conduct self-inspections on automobile data security, network security and software upgrades. “If regulatory measures cannot keep up in time, network security issues such as network attacks and network intrusions may post major security risks," Xin Guobin, a vice minister with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at a forum in the city of Tianjin on Saturday.

As per Xin, China’s sales of alternate-energy vehicles may go up to as much as 1.7 million in the initial eight months of 2021. This will account for over 10% of overall vehicles sales in China. The minister says that it is crucial to curb blind investments in China's EV sector.

Without providing any specific details, Xin said that the country has been restricting redundant construction in the EV industry. He added that the Chinese government has planned a layout to enable the continuous supply of key raw materials required for EVs manufacturing such as lithium, cobalt and nickel.

China is the world leader in terms of alternative-energy vehicles. Being the world's biggest market, concerns surrounding over-investment and excessive capacity building are being raised. Over 300 companies produce new-energy cars in China, while there are a total of 846 registered auto manufacturers. Also, the rapid growth of EV makers such as Tesla Inc., NIO Inc. and BYD Co. in China has been said to be a factor involved in the financial difficulties of the increasing number of EV businesses.

(With Agency Inputs)

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