Ross Aitchison

Norwegian researchers drove a Chinese EV into a mine to cut it off from the world. It still tried to call home. The project is called Project Lion Cage. Tor Indstøy, a Telenor security executive, monitored his own NIO ES8 SUV for years. About 90% of the connections he logged went to Chinese servers, even though NIO tells European customers their data is processed in Europe. The car carries cameras, microphones, location tracking and always-on modems. Most traffic is encrypted, so researchers could see where it went, not what it held. That is the gap. China's National Intelligence Law requires companies to assist state intelligence work. Nobody has proven spying. The question is who can be forced to hand over the feed. A separate test by Oslo transit operator Ruter found the Chinese Yutong bus could be reached by its maker through software updates, including battery and power systems. Yutong says it cannot control steering or brakes. Countries buying cheap Chinese EVs should expect to ask what else comes with the price. Is a lower sticker price worth putting a Chinese-controlled sensor on every street?