China's ban of Tesla from Communist Party retreat treats cars as US spies

The Chinese government seems to be worried aboutTesla.

According to a report on Tuesday, local police in the coastal district of Hebei province will ban the use of electric vehicles from July 1 as the city prepares to host the Chinese communist party's annual summer retreat.

The official that provided the information refused to explain why the cars were banned. The company did not reply to the request.

Details of the annual meeting of top Party officials are kept a secret by the government. Every year the conference's exact dates are kept under wraps.

A few weeks ago, police in the city of Chengdu, in China's Sichuan province, herded the cars away from certain areas of the city while China's president was in town.

The Chinese military bannedTesla cars from entering its complexes in March of last year due to security concerns. Some state-owned industries were told to stop their staff from driving cars.

Many modern vehicles come equipped with a host of sensory equipment, including onboard cameras that provide drivers with an external view to assist with maneuvers like parking or changing lanes. For autopilot mode, cameras are important.

Taken together, reports of China's restrictions onTesla suggest that official bodies fear data captured by the vehicles' cameras could be sent to overseas server and potentially handed to the U.S.

After the Chinese military banned the company from bases, Musk denied that the company used its vehicles for espionage. Outside of North America, the cameras on the vehicles aren't switched on.

In order to abide by new rules the government created to target how vehicles manage and store data in China, all data generated by its vehicles within China would be stored on a server in China. China had a law mandating how tech companies store user data within the country, but lawmakers became concerned that data gathered by vehicles presented a loophole in the law, so they introduced a new provision.

After opening its first production facility outside the U.S., China subsidized the construction of the facility and granted it a license to operate.

China is the fastest growing market in the world and the most productive plant in the world. In March, the company sold 65,184 units in China, up 15% from February. In April, sales tanked 98% as Shanghai entered a months-long COVID lockdown that decimated production at the factory.

Local rivals are increasing their share of the market. Being seen as a national security threat in China is one of the headaches the company doesn't need.