Tesla Says Its Car Cameras Aren't Activated in China
April 07 2021 - 9:40AM
Dow Jones News
By Matt Grossman
Cameras in Tesla Inc. vehicles aren't activated outside of North
America, the company said Wednesday, the latest in the American
electric-vehicle maker's efforts to ease privacy concerns about its
cars in China.
"Even in the United States, car owners can freely choose whether
to turn on the function," Tesla said in a post Wednesday on Weibo,
a Chinese Twitter-like platform. The company said Tesla's network
provides a high level of data security.
The statement was part of Tesla's campaign to assure Chinese
consumers of privacy after the Chinese government acted on concerns
that the vehicles could capture sensitive information and send it
back to the U.S. Beijing has restricted the use of Tesla vehicles
by military personnel and employees of certain state-owned
companies because of national-security risks.
China has become a core market for Tesla. The company sold more
than 135,000 vehicles there in 2020, according to the China
Passenger Car Association.
The Chinese government's privacy concerns stem in part from
cameras that are installed in Tesla's cars. Teslas use the cameras
to support driver-assistance features and to capture video to deter
attempted break-ins. The Chinese government has raised concerns
about whether the cameras could take images of sensitive sites.
Beijing has also been concerned about how Teslas can access
lists of contacts from drivers' mobile phones.
Data-privacy issues have been at the forefront of tensions
between the U.S. and China. China's concerns about Tesla vehicles
echo U.S. restrictions on telecommunications equipment made by
Huawei Technologies Co. and other Chinese companies. American
policy makers have said that Huawei equipment could be used to spy
for Beijing.
Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk told a high-level state-backed
conference last month that Tesla would never provide the U.S.
government with data collected by its vehicles in China or other
countries.
After China's concerns about Tesla came to light last month, Mr.
Musk also praised the country's environmental policy and reiterated
the company's commitment to selling cars there.
"China in the long term will be our biggest market, both where
we make the most number of vehicles and where we have the most
number of customers," he said.
Yifan Wang contributed to this article.
Write to Matt Grossman at matt.grossman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 07, 2021 10:25 ET (14:25 GMT)
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