Beijing could bring chaos to the streets of the UK by simply disabling Chinese electric cars, a security expert has warned. China’s share of the UK car market is currently more than 10% and is likely to increase rapidly in the coming years.
With an ever-growing number of drivers choosing to go electric, Chinese EVs are becoming increasingly popular. However, new electric vehicles come with an array of sensors and cameras, as well as being connected to the internet, allowing their manufacturers unprecedented access to and control over their vehicles.
In theory, this would allow a vehicle to be disabled from afar with relative ease.
“China could cripple the traffic in London by cutting the controls of, let’s say, 400 electric cars in one go, so they couldn’t be moved,” Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, warned recently,
“This is not a scare story, it’s an actual possibility.”
He added that there was a strong security case for banning all Chinese-made electric cars.
EVs are also the perfect tools for sabotage, surveillance and espionage – as well as targeted assassinations, the Daily Mail reports.
A group of Chinese hackers recently published a report on how they corrupted the self-driving software on a Tesla to make the car swerve into oncoming traffic.
Such is the concern over the potential security risk posed by Chinese EVs, that the UK’s Ministry of Defence has imposed restrictions on such cars entering sensitive military sites and training bases.
Staff with China-produced EVs or cars containing Chinese components must now park at least two miles from sensitive buildings.
Generous government subsidies have allowed Chinese companies to produce EVs at competitive prices, making them a popular choice with British drivers.
Moreover there are fears that the UK car market could be flooded with even more Chineses EVs in the wake of the trade war between Washington and Beijing.
Security experts have repeatedly warned about the dangers posed by Chinese’s technologies, in particular electric vehicles.
Two years ago Professor Jim Saker, President Of The Institute Of The Motor Industry, warned: “The threat of connected electric vehicles flooding the country could be the most effective Trojan horse that the Chinese establishment has to potentially paralyse or hold the UK to ransom.”