Following news that the Chinese military has banned the use of Tesla cars within its facilities due to the fact that they are equipped with cameras, CEO Elon Musk has said that Tesla would be shut down if its cars were used to spy in China (or anywhere else) — reports Yahoo! Finance.
“There’s a very strong incentive for us to be very confidential with any information”, said Musk during a virtual discussion in the China Development Forum earlier today. The CEO refuted the possibility, declaring that, “If Tesla used cars to spy in China or anywhere, we will get shut down”.
On Friday, news broke of the Chinese military not allowing Tesla cars into any of its premises, regardless of who’s driving them, over security concerns stemming from the possibility of the camera arrays installed on the vehicles being used to spy on sensitive military installations.
Musk’s response came during a discussion panel he held with Chinese quantum physicist Xue Qikun at the China Development Forum, a high-level business gathering hosted by a foundation governed by China’s State Council.
During the panel, Musk also called for greater mutual trust between the U.S. and China — the two largest economies in the world, and also Tesla’s biggest markets.
The Model Y and Tesla as a whole have seen tremendous success in China, and misconceptions about the company’s products could become yet another front the company has to fight on in order to maintain its prevalence in the Chinese electric vehicle market.
