00:00I'm parking now. Gadgets like this parking aid and modern connected cars are truly useful,
00:05but because they rely on sensors, software and connectivity, they also raise the question,
00:10could these systems be misused, maybe for spying? Poland recently made headlines by barring certain
00:16Chinese branded EVs from military sites over spying concerns. It sounds crazy, until you
00:22remember what modern cars really are. Computers on wheels with cameras, sensors, GPS and constant
00:28software updates. No wonder European policy makers are considering restrictions on foreign EVs.
00:37I think that we have the biggest security risks and the biggest espionage risks with China. We do not
00:45only see that for cars, but we see that in many areas of the industry. So therefore, China has to
00:53be in the focus. But of course, cyber security is an issue where we have to learn in many different
01:00parts of our society and that is not only applying towards China to everything.
01:05What data do connected cars collect and when does convenience tech become a security problem?
01:11I'm here at NIO Smart Driving Technology Center near Berlin to find out what connected driving really
01:17means. And by the end, you might be surprised. The tech that worries some people the most can make
01:22driving safer if it's regulated the right way. NIO is a Chinese electric car maker that entered the
01:29European market in 2021 and now runs a key R&D site here. It's NIO's first smart driving tech center
01:40outside China. We opened the center because we have to adapt our software features to the EU market.
01:49This is not only the regulatory side. It is also the environmental conditions. And this is quite hard
01:58to do it from China. To understand the sheer amount of data a car can collect and process,
02:03you need to think of it in layers. There's location and route data. There's vehicle usage data like speed,
02:13battery charging behavior and system health. There's environment sensing including camera and radar
02:19inputs used for driver assistance. And account and app data like profiles, remote controls and diagnostic logs.
02:28You have around 30 sensors, cameras, radars, ultrasonic sensors. And with that, what we can achieve is a
02:37pretty, let's say, impressive level of driver automation, always in compliance with traffic law, of course.
02:44The key isn't that the collected data exists. It's who can see it or access it, where it's processed,
02:50and if it's shared, and whether independent bodies can verify where it ends up.
02:56You have to think about your car like a smartphone. It has a lot of computerization power. It is
03:03connected to a lot of services. And you can disable a lot of those services as well. But again, then,
03:10that comes with the cost of not having those features in. Driving along, you can see how normal
03:16a connected car feels. Hey, Naomi, what's the weather like? The weather in King Bus today will be mostly
03:23safe. That convenience is exactly why connected vehicles are here to stay.
03:27But in places like military sites, critical infrastructure or R&D labs, policymakers treat
03:33always connected devices differently. The EU is working on rules that raise cyber security and
03:39software update requirements for connected vehicles. It's also debating how to manage connected car data
03:44and risk insensitive environments. What we know is that China is treating foreign electric cars and
03:54digital cars as a threat. China has rules that they are not allowed close to military areas.
04:02Teslas cannot go to airports. So they see this as a threat. So we should see it also as a
04:09threat.
04:11Being relatively new to Europe, NIO's team is tackling these issues too. Issues like how to bring
04:16connected driving features to Europe in a way that fits local regulations and expectations. Especially
04:22around transparency, updates and data handling. We take privacy extremely seriously. Everything that
04:31doesn't have to be shared, we don't share. Everything that can be stored locally. And when I say locally,
04:37I mean within the hardware of the car, we do it. Data is stored locally and it's a recording in
04:44a loop.
04:45So new recordings delete previous recordings. So we only make sure that we keep the data
04:53on a temporal basis. But of course, in order for certain features to function, you must use servers.
04:59But all our servers we use are hosted in the European Union, mostly Frankfurt.
05:05From the manufacturer's perspective, privacy is built into the design. But cyber security experts
05:11look at the same systems through a different lens. Not intentions, but attack surfaces.
05:16In general, I would say we have two scenarios to worry about. The first one is privacy. That's the
05:25scenario where somebody is able to access your microphones or your internal cameras of your vehicle
05:31vehicle and is able to monitor you. Or something where they are able to get the GPS data from a
05:37backend and use this data to track your behavior. And then there's also the scenario where the environment
05:46data of your vehicle, so something like your radar sensors or the external dashboard cameras or the
05:53radar sensors are used to get an understanding of the environment. It's really good.
06:01Then there are remote features. Some cars can perform remote parking maneuvers, for example.
06:07It's a convenience feature, not a thriller. But it highlights why safeguards matter. Strong authentication,
06:12strict limits, detailed logging and failed safes. The issue isn't that the feature exists. It's whether
06:19security by design makes misuse extremely difficult. None of this actually proves active spying by any
06:25one brand. It just explains why security zones treat connected devices differently. So what's the answer?
06:32Not blanket bans, but risk-based rules.
06:36I absolutely believe that China will do everything that they can in order to take advantage of gaps in
06:44regulation. But I would also say in order to take advantage of gaps in the technology, even if it's
06:51regulated. So we shouldn't be naive. There is huge interest from China into espionage, but also in being
07:02able to control some of the technology that is in Europe. Therefore, we need to define what are critical
07:09parts of our industry, of our infrastructure, where we must not allow, for instance, China technology
07:17to play a role. I would say the safest way is that critical parts like, for instance, Wi-Fi receivers,
07:27they should be of European origin. That's the best way to be safe against espionage, especially from China.
07:33In the end, the story isn't about Poland or Chinese EVs. These connected cars are here to stay because
07:39they solve real problems. They simplify charging, they prevent crashes and they generally make for a
07:46safe driving experience. The challenge is to pair that progress with strong, verifiable safeguards.
07:53If Europe leads with clear standards like auditable systems, secure updates and transparent data rules,
07:59then innovation doesn't have to be a risk. It can be a competitive advantage.
Comments