Tesla boss Elon Musk defended at a virtual conference in Beijing that his cars, which collect a lot of data, could ever spy in China for the benefit of the United States, the
Wall Street Journal reported
.
This statement from the leader of the electric car maker comes as the Chinese government has decided to restrict the use of Tesla vehicles by the military and employees of large state-owned companies.
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Chinese officials are said to be worried that data such as images taken by car cameras could be transmitted to the United States, the newspaper said.
Asked by AFP, the Tesla group did not respond.
China is a crucial and promising market for Tesla, which has built a factory in Shanghai and already sells a quarter of its total production there.
The group wants to reach 200,000 vehicles sold this year in the Asian country.
Attending a high-level conference in Beijing via video link, Musk said no company, whether American or Chinese, would risk collecting private data and sharing it with their government.
“
Whether you are a Chinese or an American group, it would cost you dearly to do espionage,
” Mr. Musk said.
“
If Tesla used its cars to spy in any country, the company would be shut down,
” he continued.
This constitutes "
a very powerful incentive to remain very confidential
", added the leader.
Fears for the national security of the processing of data collected by tech groups like Tesla are reminiscent of the US-Chinese standoff over technology and commerce.
Last week, US authorities listed Chinese group Huawei among Chinese telecommunications equipment companies considered a threat to national security, dampening hopes of easing relations with Joe Biden's rise to power.
The telecoms group had already been placed on an American blacklist in 2019, the Trump administration, accusing it without providing any evidence, of potential espionage for the benefit of Beijing by using its equipment to monitor communications and data traffic. of a country.
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TikTok, an application for short videos particularly popular among young affiliates of the Chinese group ByteDance, has also been accused by the Trump administration of collecting confidential data, before sharing it with Beijing.
Elon Musk, during his speech at the conference in Beijing on Saturday, judged American fears of espionage by TikTok "
irrational
".
The video platform, he said, only shows people "
doing silly dances
," he said.