US Wants to Keep Chinese Tech from Your Connected Car

• The proposed rule would prohibit vehicles with connectivity software from China or Russia by model year 2027 and vehicles with the relevant hardware from those countries by model year 2030 to be sold in the US.

• Targeted are telematics control units, Bluetooth cellular, satellite, and Wi-Fi modules, as well as ADAS software components, “even if the vehicle was made in the United States.”

• Vehicles sold in the US for MY 2025 with “significant” software and components from China include the Cadillac XT4, CT4, and CT5; Buick Encore GX and Envision (pictured above); Hyundai Kona EV; Ford Mustang Mach-E; Volvo S90 T8 PHEV and S90 B6; Lincoln Nautilus; and Polestar 2.

The US Department of Commerce does not want Chinese- and Russian-supplied software and hardware controlling your automated, connected car or truck.

To that end, the department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a proposed rule Tuesday that would prohibit vehicles with connectivity software from those countries by model year 2027 and vehicles with the relevant hardware from those countries by model year 2030 (or Jan. 1, 2029, for vehicles without a model year) to be sold in the US.

The rule would prohibit sale of vehicles with these foreign-supplied systems that allow them to communicate externally, “including telematics control units, Bluetooth cellular, satellite, and Wi-Fi modules,” as well as with ADAS software components that “collectively allow” a vehicle to operate without the driver operating the controls, “even if the vehicle was made in the United States.”

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in a prepared statement: “Cars today have cameras, microphones, GPS tracking, and other technologies connected to the internet. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand how a foreign adversary with access to this information could pose a serious risk to both our national security and the privacy of US citizens.”

Under guidelines for federal agency rulemaking, the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register and is open for a period of public comment before it becomes law.

Parts and supplies from Russian companies have been removed from most Western supply chains since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, notes Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting for AutoForecast Solutions.

Since at least the COVID-19 pandemic, however, China and Russia have grown closer diplomatically at the same time as Chinese automakers have been squeezing Chinese-built foreign brands out of their local market.

The pandemic also caused critical shortages of semiconductors for automotive and other industries, which prompted Congress in 2022 to pass the CHIPS and Science Act, a federal statute that provides $280 billion for domestic chip research and manufacturing.

Compounding the economic diplomacy rift between the US and China is a law signed by President Biden last April that gave ByteDance one year to sell TikTok or face having to remove it from our market.

Vehicles sold in the US for the 2025 model year with “significant” software and components from China range from the Cadillac XT4, CT4, and CT5, and Buick Encore GX at 15%, to the Hyundai Kona EV with 50% Chinese content and the Ford Mustang Mach-E with 51%.

Chinese-built models sold here include the Volvo S90 T8 PHEV with 70%, the S90 B6 with 75% including engine, Lincoln Nautilus with 87% including engine and transmission, Buick Envision with 90%, and Polestar 2 with 95% including motor and transmission.

The privacy issue is not, however, limited to software and hardware from potentially hostile nations. Last September, the free software community Mozilla Foundation issued all 25 automotive brands sold in the US its “Privacy Not Included Label,” making passenger vehicles “the official worst category of products for privacy” ever reviewed.

“Every car brand we looked at collects more personal data than necessary and uses that information for a reason other than to operate your vehicle and manage their relationship with you,” Mozilla said in a release.

The Washington-based Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents 43 automotive brands including most major OEMs in the US, expressed some misgivings about the Commerce Department’s rule proposal.

“Important context: There’s actually very little technology—hardware or software—in today’s connected vehicle supply chain that enters the US from China. But this rule will require auto manufacturers in some cases to find alternate suppliers,” AAI President and CEO John Bozzella said in a press release.

“The lead time included in the proposed rule will allow some auto manufacturers to make the required transition, but it may be too short for others.”

Do you think this rulemaking will materialize into an actual ban of this vehicle technology from China and Russia? Please comment below.