In an industry event that was held on Friday in China, Elon Musk – the CEO of electric vehicle company Tesla, said that the EV company will work with regulators around the globe to ensure data security. Tesla has been under strict scrutiny, especially in China, over its storage and handling of customer data.
This year, many big tech companies have been under scrutiny from regulators in China. Many companies around the world have also been facing regulators for various reasons but the majority of the actions against these companies have been majorly related to customer data and protection.
Electric vehicles are fast becoming a norm but the ever-increasing array of sensors, cameras and small smart components that are being used to build these cars are raising concerns about the privacy and security of customers. They are raising concerns because these devices have the ability to collect, store, and even send large amounts of information about consumers. Earlier this year in May, staff at some Chinese government offices were asked not to park their cars due to security concerns. There was the fear that the cars would collect and store private or secret information due to the cameras that these cars are built with.
The Tesla boss told the World New Energy Vehicle Congress on the southern Chinese Island of Hainan via a video that “with the rapid growth of autonomous driving technologies, data security of vehicles is drawing more public concerns than ever before”.
The Tesla boss understands the concerns that are being raised about electric vehicles and that is why he sees the need to work with regulators all over the world to ensure that these concerns and/or fears are abated. Tesla revealed that it has established a site in China to locally store data, and this is a step that shows that the company is willing and ready to work with regulators.
