US to ban Chinese software and hardware in cars | Information Age

The US government says Chinese-made software and hardware in connected cars pose a national security concern. Photo: Shutterstock

The U.S. government is preparing to ban the use of Chinese software and hardware in vehicles driving on American roads due to cyber and national security concerns.

Reuters reported on MondayThe US Commerce Department will announce the planned ban this week and that it will go into effect in 2030, two sources said.

It will apply to Chinese-made software and hardware used in new connected and autonomous vehicles in the U.S.

The ban is expected to come into effect in 2027 for software used in cars, and in early 2029 or the following year for hardware.

The U.S. government has previously expressed concerns about the presence of Chinese software and hardware in vehicles on American roads, particularly because of the possibility that certain technologies could be disabled or the vehicles could be “remotely piloted or disabled.”

Most new cars sold in the U.S. are considered “connected,” meaning they have hardware that can access the internet and share data with devices inside and outside the vehicle.

The ban will apply to the import and sale of vehicles with communications or autonomous driving system software or hardware from China, Reuters reported.

Vehicles with autonomous driving capabilities that include select Bluetooth, satellite and wireless features.

Avoiding a ‘catastrophic outcome’

The U.S. government launched an investigation in February into whether cars and other vehicles imported and sold from China pose a national security risk because of the connected software and hardware loaded into them and whether they should be blocked from entering the country.

Last week, the US imposed 100 percent tariffs on electric cars coming from China.

US President Joe Biden had previously announced that tough measures would be taken against such technologies.

“China’s policies could flood our markets with their tools and put our national security at risk,” Biden said earlier this year.

“I will not allow this during my term.”

The investigation will also examine whether these connected or autonomous vehicles could be “remotely piloted or disabled” using this technology, with Biden signaling “unprecedented action to ensure that vehicles from worrisome countries like China do not jeopardize our national security” on U.S. roads.

The proposed laws are also expected to cover cars coming from Russia.

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimonda expressed concerns about the security risks posed by the existence of this software and hardware.

“If we assume there are a few million cars on the road and the software is disabled, you can imagine a situation that could theoretically end up being catastrophic,” Raimonda said in May.

According to the report, the US Commerce Department will give the public 30 days to comment before the planned ban is finalized.

A group representing auto giants including General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen and Hyundai said such a ban would take a long time to implement and replace hardware and software.

The group said the systems in its vehicles “undergo extensive pre-production engineering, testing and validation processes and are generally not easily interchangeable with systems or components from a different supplier.”

US Senator Sherrod Brown called for a ban on all electric vehicles made in China earlier this year, saying they “threaten economic and national security” and could “provide China with access to sensitive personal data”.

Technology war

It is not yet clear whether Australia will follow in the US’s footsteps and enact such a ban.

Plenty of low-cost Chinese-manufactured electric vehicles now available in AustraliaIncluding BYD and Great Wall Motors.

The impending US ban is another effort by the US government to crack down on the domestic proliferation of Chinese technology due to national security concerns.

The US government this year introduced legislation that would ban social media app TikTok if its Chinese parent company ByteDance does not cease its operations in the United States.

Australian government He refused to follow the US on this issue.but there is TikTok banned on all government-issued devices due to “significant protective security risk”.

In Australia Chinese telecommunications company Huawei banned Since its inclusion in the National Broadband Network a few years ago.