The ANPRM also maintains, “According to open-source reporting, over 200 automakers that operate in the PRC are legally obligated to transmit real-time vehicle data, including geolocation information, to government monitoring centers.” It asks for comments on the degree to which components in the ICTS supply chain for CVs come from Chinese suppliers.
No current data indicates how much Chinese technology is in CVs made in the US or other Western countries. However, China has sought to dominate the world of electric vehicles (EVs) for over two decades, with Shanghai’s Gigafactory accounting for over half of Tesla’s cars produced in 2022. By the last quarter of 2023, Chinese car maker BYD even surpassed Tesla as the top EV maker in the world, with its inexpensive EVs proving popular across Europe.
With this growing dominance in the EV market, it wouldn’t be a reach to say that China is also closely studying CV models, “China wants to lead the world in electric vehicles and is producing them,” Lindsay Gorman, senior fellow for emerging technologies, Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund, tells CSO. “The strategy is generally to copy the best technology and the best processes and then displace those competitors even as it provides a market environment that private companies have a very hard time saying no to because of the cheap labor, the less expensive manufacturing, and probably fewer regulations and hurdles to go through on the surface.”
Gorman thinks that despite China’s competitive advantage in industrial manufacturing, such as EV production, its well-documented expertise in intellectual property theft has likely also led it to intensely study how Western automakers who produce vehicles in China design and assemble their cars. “A lot of the German car makers, for example, have their production facilities in China, and they have sophisticated manufacturing and production processes,” she says.
“So, I wouldn’t be surprised if PRC car companies are taking note of how these international manufacturers operate and have a design on displacing the Audis and the BMWs of the world over the next 10, 20 years.” She adds, “What we’re likely to see might be many instances of China investigating the role of data and the strategic national value of data in our connected systems.”
China’s legal structure is a sign of China’s intent
What isn’t clear is whether China has already begun to exploit its advantages in espionage and intellectual property theft to develop a connected vehicle strategy. The Commerce Department’s rulemaking says a “host” of Chinese laws can compel companies to cooperate with intelligence and security services.
