The U.S. is proposing a ban on Chinese software in connected cars and autonomous vehicles, citing national security concerns and a need to quarantine sensitive data from prying eyes. If passed, the software ban would apply to 2027 model-year vehicles and be overseen by the U.S. Department of Commerce as one of the Biden administration’s last official acts to safeguard against possible Chinese attacks, according to the New York Times.
Now that we’re well into the age of the internet-of-things, the internet-of-cars is emerging as a vital frontier and the U.S. doesn’t want “countries of concern” to have access to the data of its citizens, nor gain a backdoor into its infrastructure. These countries include Russia and China, but, as the NYT explains, the “Russians produce almost nothing that could be banned.” Meanwhile, the Chinese—from Foxconn to Geely and beyond—produce both hard- and software that is widely used in American homes.
The proposed ban is supposed to prevent Chinese intelligence agencies from spying on U.S. citizens through their cars and from gaining entry into power grids or other vital points of infrastructure through network-enabled cars. That applies to pretty much any new vehicle, given how interconnected automobiles are in 2024.
National security advisers say modern devices are underpinned by technologies that collect “volumes of information on drivers,” and regularly interface with other (American) devices. Advisers say they are worried about “Volt Typhoon,” which is not a new electrified Chevy but a Chinese effort to reportedly gain entry into American power systems, water pipelines, and other critical infrastructure. American intelligence officials and the FBI fear that Chinese code could be deployed during a crisis, such as “a Chinese effort to take Taiwan,” to cripple American military bases, per the NYT.
Unlike heavy tariffs that the U.S. has imposed on Chinese-made vehicles, the current administration says the software ban is not about trade disputes nor in the interest of gaining an economic upper hand; this ban is strictly “a national security action,” which could be the first as the U.S. lays groundwork for a broader set of bans that later includes Chinese-made drones and all other vehicles operating on public roads. The goal is to outlaw all Chinese software embedded into a device that could be used to tap into American infrastructure or siphon data from U.S. citizens.
There are currently few Chinese-built vehicles on U.S. roads to begin with, but the U.S. is calling this a proactive measure. At the rate that automakers are moving on software-defined vehicles and self-driving cars in China, however, it’s not long before someone tries to develop EVs and AVs meant for American roads with Chinese code. Biden’s proposed ban would outlaw Chinese software by 2027 and any hardware related to a vehicle’s connectivity systems by 2030.
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