“Has NHTSA ever acted on its own, or in cooperation with cities or other local governments, to limit or prevent Chinese companies from collecting sensitive information from American infrastructure, including sensitive government or military information, and then sharing such information overseas?” Pfluger wrote.
China certainly has such misgivings about U.S.-made smart and electric vehicles. Earlier this year, for example, Beijing imposed strict restrictions on where Teslas can operate, particularly around military facilities, amid a meeting of senior Communist Party officials.
In his letter, Plueger stressed that China could use “autonomous and connected vehicles as a means to integrate its systems and technologies into our infrastructure. The United States, like most of its allies, has already banned the Chinese giant Huawei from building 5G infrastructure, but these next-generation vehicles will have access to an unprecedented number of emails, messages and calls, effectively becoming moving cameras that can capture images of our critical infrastructure.
As Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told a House committee last week, there is a “risk that our communications infrastructure could fall into the hands of nations that do not protect our freedoms and rights as we do.” FBI Director Christopher Wray has warned that China has stolen more data from the United States than all other countries combined through “an increasingly sophisticated and widespread cyber espionage campaign against a range of U.S. industries, organizations, and dissidents.”
It’s no secret that Beijing has a particular interest in the auto industry: This summer, a former Apple engineer pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets related to the company’s self-driving program and sending them back to China.
Pfluger, a Texas Republican, served on both the House Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security committees during his last term. Republicans in particular have called for legislation to regulate AV cybersecurity to counter China’s aggressive entry into the U.S. market. Bills and proposals have been circulating, but none have become law. (U.S. President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill includes some language on AV safety, but does not address security or espionage issues.)
With Republicans regaining control of the House of Representatives, their particular skepticism of Beijing is likely to bring renewed scrutiny to Chinese companies doing business in the US.
“House Republicans will refocus their attention on one of the nation’s greatest threats: the Chinese Communist Party,” Plueger said in a statement. “TikTok and Huawei demonstrate the Chinese Communist Party’s intent to use any means necessary to collect American data and transmit it back to Beijing.”
Speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum last weekend, Sen. Chris Coons, D-N.Y., said regulating Chinese social media companies would also be a priority in the next congressional term.
“There are a number of platforms that I condemn. First of all, TikTok. They are malicious and they are siphoning off vast amounts of data and using it as a tool of state power,” Coons told the Canada Security Council.
Kuhn warned that this is more than just a data collection operation, highlighting the widespread perception that TikKok is being used as a distraction – a drug for the masses.