On Friday, Western media reported that the Chinese authorities are banning the military, scientists and defense sector employees from using Tesla electric vehicles to travel to work and to the places of compact residence of families of workers in the defense industry. This is due to the danger of leaking recordings from cameras of electric vehicles and access to other confidential data. Elon Musk responded personally to these accusations this morning during a live video link with China.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk convinces Chinese businesses that he is not spying on them. Image source: Reuters

During a video conference with the participants of the China Development Forum, Elon Musk said that his company would cease to exist if its electric vehicles were used for espionage. “We have a very strong incentive to maintain the confidentiality of any information, Musk said in a Chinese forum during a virtual discussion. – If Tesla uses cars for spying in China or anywhere else, we will be knocked out. “

Tesla officials have previously said that the company’s electric vehicles do not include surveillance cameras in China. On the other hand, the ideology of the Tesla automotive platform is based on the constant exchange of service data, and a lot of interesting information can be learned from this information for those who know what to look for. The current situation once again illustrates the importance of releasing a national product free of foreign “backlogs”.

For Tesla, the Chinese market is now extremely important for development, so she does not want to be involved in a spy scandal. In 2020, the company sold 147 electric cars in this country, that is, about a third of all its cars. But further growth will be associated with competition with local manufacturers, and even a hint of potential surveillance of the owners could cause irreparable harm to Tesla’s business in China.