US proposes banning Chinese tech in connected cars

Agencies

The US Commerce Department is expected today to propose prohibiting Chinese software and hardware in connected and autonomous vehicles on American roads due to national security concerns.

The Biden administration has raised serious concerns about the collection of data by Chinese companies on US drivers and infrastructure as well as the potential foreign manipulation of vehicles connected to the internet and navigation systems.

The proposed regulation would ban the import and sale of vehicles from China with key communications or automated driving system software or hardware, said two sources.

In other news, Germany's Volkswagen has begun to trim corporate jobs in China as it works to reduce overhead by a target of 20 percent globally over the next three years.

The cuts amount to several hundred local staff at the group level, according to people familiar with the matter, as Volkswagen contends with a stubborn decline in sales in its largest market.

The company's premium Audi brand is separately reducing headcount, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the information has not been made public.

The news came as SAIC Volkswagen, responding to reports it would close its Nanjing plant, said on Saturday that adjusting its production base was "normal and necessary."

Reuters had earlier reported that Volkswagen plans to stop production at one of its combustion engine car plants in China, in a sign of automakers' struggles to manage overcapacity in the world's biggest car market.