Toronto, Ontario — In this week’s EV/AV report, autonomous vehicles (AVs) join the United States’ list of national security threats, Detroit announces prototype roads that wirelessly charge electric vehicles (EVs) and Tesla escalates the full self-driving beta (FSD) to all interested customers in North America. This is the latest in electric and autonomous vehicles.
Weakest Link
A member of the American House of Representatives has raised concerns about the dangers of AVs, warning that these vehicles represent a treasure trove of data that could be exploited against American citizens—or national interests.
In a letter to the NHTSA, Congressperson August Pfluger (R-Tex.), wrote that a lack of oversight in AV technology presents an opportunity for companies to transfer critical data to the Chinese Communist Party, becoming “a pathway to incorporate their systems and technology into our (country’s) infrastructure.”
According to an article by Wired, AVs effectively serve as moving cameras with access to emails, messages, phone calls.
Pfluger clarifies that even though AVs can improve mobility for people with disabilities and make roads safer, they also enable larger, more sophisticated foreign espionage against industries, organizations and dissidents in the United States.
For the original letter posted by Wired, click here.
On the road again
Transportation officials in Detroit have announced an impressive technological undertaking—creating two roads that charge electric vehicles driving on them.
According to the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), the state department has partnered with Electreon to develop wireless on-road charging networks for EVs, part of a wider strategy to electrify the transportation sector by 2045.
If successful, this project will upscale of commercially available wireless charging technology to a wider level and result in more sustainable, cheaper transportation for the city.
Open season
Tesla is expanding its Full Self-Driving beta “to anyone in North America who requests it from the car screen, assuming you have bought this option,” said Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a recent tweet.
This decision comes just a month after the U.S. Department of Justice disclosed an ongoing investigation into the OEM for false-advertising claims, asserting that the company may have provided unsupported claims about its driver assistance technology’s capabilities.
Given recent pushes by Tesla to expand the FSD beta into major cities such as San Francisco and Toronto, it is unclear how exactly this will impact the development of ongoing investigations or FSD development.
The post EV/AV Report: Autonomous espionage and charging roads appeared first on Collision Repair Magazine.
