• News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
  • News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
Sign up Now (For Free)

Sign up for our newsletter and receive the latest automotive news in your inbox!

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks for subscribing!
News
Read Now
  • All News
  • Automakers
  • Automobiles
  • Auto Shows
  • Business
  • EVs & Environment
  • Guides
  • Lawsuits/Legal
  • Regulatory
  • Ride-Sharing
  • Safety & Recalls
  • Technology
Recent
  • Will Apple Achieve What Automakers Can’t?
  • Q&A: Tristan Murphy, Cadillac Lyriq Interior Design Manager
  • Sales Battle Royal Rages in Pickup Segment
  • Toyota is No. 3 — Third Automaker to Pass EV Tax Credit Threshold
  • Ford Gains Ground on Strong June Sales, Up 31.5% YOY
  • Q&A: Cadillac Lyriq Exterior Design Manager Josh Thurber
  • After 18% Sales Slide, Tesla No Longer World’s Best-Selling EV Brand
  • Get Updated on Cars, EVs and More with the Headlight News Podcast
  • Founder of Spartan Diesel Technologies Faces a Year in Jail for Selling Diesel Defeat Devices
  • What Costs More: New Car or Rent? The $1K a Month Car Payment Hit’s New Highs
Editor’s Choice
    Reviews
    Read Now
    • All Reviews
    • Classic Cars
    • Concept Cars
    • Convertibles
    • Coupes
    • Crossovers/CUVs
    • Diesel
    • Hot hatches
    • Hybrids
    • Luxury Vehicles
    • Minivans
    • Muscle Cars
    • Pickups
    • Sedans
    • Sports Cars
    • Super Cars
    • SUVs
    Recent Reviews
    • A Week With: 2022 Lexus NX 350h
    • A Week With: 2022 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4xe Overland
    • A Week With: 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan SE R-Line Black
    • First Drive: 2023 Cadillac Lyriq
    • First Drive: 2022 Ford Bronco Everglades Edition
    • A Week With: 2022 Mazda3 2.5 S AWD Hatchback
    • First Drive: 2023 Honda HR-V
    • First Drive: 2022 Ford Bronco Raptor
    • A Week With: 2022 GMC Terrain AT4 AWD
    • A Week With: 2022 Cadillac Escalade Sport
    Editor’s Choice
      Guides
      Car Warranty
      • Endurance Warranty Reviews
      • BMW Extended Warranty
      • Extended Warranty For Cars Over 100k Miles
      • Extended Car Warranty Cost
      • Subaru Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Reviews
      • CarShield Cost
      • Aftermarket Car Warranty
      • CARCHEX Warranty Reviews
      • Reputable Extended Car Warranty Companies
      • Used Car Warranty Companies
      • Best Car Warranty
      • Is CarShield A Scam?
      • Mercedes Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Plans
      Insurance
      • How To Identify A Car Insurance Company
      • Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • How Far Back Does A Car Insurance Company Look
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance For Used Cars
      • State Farm Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance From Progressive
      • Dollar A Day Insurance
      • Auto Insurance For SSI Recipients
      • Car Insurance Rates After A Suspended License
      • Auto Insurance For Salvage Vehicles
      • Average Cost of Dodge Ram 1500 Car Insurance
      • Car Insurance Florida
      • Full Coverage Auto Insurance
      • GrubHub Insurance
      • Amazon Delivery Auto Insurance
      Shipping
      • Car Shipping Companies
      • uShip Reviews
      • Auto Shipping From California To Hawaii
      • Montway Auto Transport Reviews
      • Cheap Car Shipping
      • Easy Auto Ship Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Miami
      • Auto Shipping To Alaska
      • Car Shipping Cost
      • Auto Shipping Hawaii
      • Auto Shipping Puerto Rico
      • Sherpa Auto Transport Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Atlanta
      • Auto Shipping Boston
      • Auto Shipping. Chicago
      About
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
      • Terms of Use
      • Privacy Policy
      • Affiliate Disclosure
      • Sitemap
      TheDetroitBureau.com

      More than just “another” place to find news, reviews, spy shots, commentary, features, and guides about the auto industry. TheDetroitBureau doesn’t stop with the press releases or confuse a few lines of opinion with insightful, in-depth reporting.

      Contact Us

      Like what you see? Have some ideas for making The Detroit Bureau.com even better? Let us know, we’d love to hear your voice.

        Media
        Listen Now
        • Headlight News: All Episodes
        More from TheDetroitBureau
        • Guides
        • Latest News
        • Auto Reviews
        • Podcasts
        Headlight News

        TheDetroitBureau.com’s Headlight News offers a look at the past week’s top automotive news stories, as well as what’s coming up in the week ahead. Check out the week’s top story and our latest review…along with a dive into the past with this week in automotive history.

        home > news > Automakers > Tesla CEO Musk Seeks to Allay China’s Camera Fears

        Tesla CEO Musk Seeks to Allay China’s Camera Fears

        Analyst says CEO's history of being less than truthful sparks skepticism.

        Jim Stickford , Contributing Editor
        April 07, 2021
        Elon Musk continues trying to assuage China’s concerns about the cameras it uses on its vehicles.

        Well, Tesla’s Elon Musk spoke — again — about “privacy” issues with its vehicles in China, reiterating that it’s nonsensical to think that the EV maker would be engaged in anything nefarious.

        The Chinese government banned Tesla vehicles from its facilities because of the vehicles many cameras. Musk spoke about it recently in an attempt to assuage any fears about the vehicles being used to spy on government installations. Then, the company offered up another bit of supporting evidence, according to Reuters.

        “Even in the United States, car owners can freely choose whether to turn on its (the camera system’s) use. Tesla is equipped with a network security system with world-leading security levels to ensure user privacy protection,” the company said in a post on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.

        So problem solved, right? Uh, maybe.

        Musk says a lot of things

        There are those who take EVERYTHING Musk says with a huge grain of salt.

        Tesla Sentry Mode view
        Tesla’s Sentry Mode monitors activity around the vehicle and records “events” that can be downloaded later.

        “If Elon Musk said something, it’s almost 100% fishy,” said Sam Abuelsamid, automotive analyst for Guidehouse Insights in Chicago. “He will say anything to defend himself, regardless if it is true.”

        While speaking at a virtual forum in Beijing in March, held not long after the initial reports of the ban surfaced, Musk emphasized the company’s business motivations for protecting user privacy.

        “There’s a very strong incentive for us to be very confidential with any information,” Musk said.

        That’s nice, said Abuelsamid, but does that mean Tesla is willing to reduce the effectiveness of the vehicles anti-collision systems, the effectiveness of driver-eyes-on-road systems? Simply put, just because Musk has said something, doesn’t mean the underlying issues he’s talking about have been solved.

        Abuelsamid compared Musk to former president Donald Trump. They both tweet a lot, both say things that aren’t true and have both enjoyed success as a result. The analyst does credit Musk with helping create a market for EVs. But as technology advances, new questions of privacy are being raised, and not just in China.

        Privacy will be an ongoing issue

        Tesla Autopilot view
        This is how Tesla’s Autopilot interprets what its cameras and radar sensors take in.

        Americans will have to get used to losing privacy as Autonomous Vehicle (AV) technology advances.

        “Hey, if you take an AV taxi ride home, that car is going to have internal sensors that monitor you,” Abuelsamid said. “So if you light up, the car will know and you’ll get charged a cleaning fee. The car will know when you got picked and when you got dropped off and the route you took on your trip.”

        There will be “black” box evidence that could be used against a driver in case of an accident.

        Internal camera images will probably be preserved, but given the number of external cameras, so much data will be generated that the information won’t be sent to the cloud for preservation.

        “We don’t have the bandwidth or the profit incentive to save all the information generated by AVs,” Abuelsamid said. “So 99% of the data won’t be saved.”

        This tech drives the cars — literally

        Tesla offers a built-in dash cam in its current vehicle line-up. The use of the camera footage has raised privacy concerns in China and the U.S.

        But that doesn’t mean huge questions of privacy have been solved. Musk said if Tesla ever used its cars to spy in China, or anywhere, the company would get “shut down everywhere.”

        “If a commercial company did engage in spying, the negative effects to that company would be extremely bad,” he said at last month’s China Development Forum, a gathering organized by a unit of the country’s State Council.

        Tesla, like many other automakers including General Motors, uses several small cameras, mainly located on the outside of the vehicle, to help guide parking, autopilot and self-driving functions.

        The technology exists in cars today. Just because Tesla says it won’t spy on drivers doesn’t mean that third parties with less than honorable intentions won’t spy on drivers.

        And if Americans are as concerned about security and privacy as the Chinese, what will Musk say about that?

        This issue isn’t going away — no matter what Musk says.

        Recently Published

        Will Apple Achieve What Automakers Can’t?

        Today
        2023 Cadillac Lyriq glass roof REL

        Q&A: Tristan Murphy, Cadillac Lyriq Interior Design Manager

        Today
        2022 Ford F-Series Super Duty Lariat Tremor front

        Sales Battle Royal Rages in Pickup Segment

        Today

        Leave a Reply Cancel reply

        Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

        Share this article:
        © The Detroit Bureau 2022
        • Guides
        • Privacy Policy
        • Terms of Use
        • Affiliate Disclosure
        • Contact Us
        • Sitemap
        Follow Us: