U.S. considers new rules to ban Chinese software from cars

The US Commerce Department is expected to announce new rules in August imposing restrictions on Chinese-made automotive software. Reuters.

The new rules come as the Biden administration steps up scrutiny of auto imports from China to prevent China from flooding the market with cheap electric vehicles.

At a forum in Colorado, Alan Esteves, undersecretary for industry and security at the Commerce Department, said the department would propose rules to require certain vehicle software to be made in the U.S. or in trading partners. Esteves said the rule would concern “the key driver components of the vehicle that control the software, that control the data about that vehicle.” Reuters.

The investigation focused on “connected cars” — a broad term that applies to any vehicle with internet connectivity — and was intended to address concerns that technology such as cameras, sensors and on-board computers could be misused by foreign adversaries to collect sensitive data about U.S. people and infrastructure.

China Previously accused It accused the United States of repeatedly misusing “notions of national security” to unfairly target Chinese companies and thwart competition from global markets.

The new rules could mirror a similar provision in the federal EV tax credit that bars vehicles with Chinese-made battery parts from receiving the tax credit. The administration has also proposed imposing high tariffs on Chinese-made vehicles to make them too expensive to sell in the U.S.