Norwegian Military Finds Spy Risk in Chinese Rental Cars
Norwegian Armed Forces discovered security risks from Chinese-made rental cars used for operations.
3 min read
Chinese-manufactured Hertz rental cars have been found to record military movements and secret gate security codes, according to a new report. The Norwegian Armed Forces discovered the security breach last month after renting the cars from Hertz Norway.
Security Concerns and Vehicle Technology
“It is correct that recordings were made in vehicles belonging to a Chinese-owned car rental company,” a spokesman for the Norwegian Armed Forces told Fox News. Hertz’s cars are equipped with dozens of cameras, sensors, and microphones as part of their technology that collects data inside the car and the car’s environment.
The Norwegian military rented the cars under a multiyear $32.8 million contract for daily tasks and operational activities. However, the military has not stated whether it will seek to get out of the contract. A Chinese manufacturer is one of Hertz’s largest fleet suppliers, though the rental company also sources vehicles from manufacturers in North America and Europe.
Franchise Operations and Data Security
A source familiar with the matter told The Daily Wire that Hertz Norway is operated by their franchise partner, First Rent A Car Norway AS, and that franchises decide how to source their fleet. Hertz does not share customer information with its vehicles’ manufacturers, and the vehicles sourced by Hertz Norway are not operated in the United States, the source confirmed.
Political and Regulatory Responses
China is also pushing to manufacture cars in the United States. “They want to come in and build a plant to hire you, to hire your friends, and your neighbors,” Trump said in January. “That’s great, I’d love to have China come in.”
After meeting with President Xi Jinping in September, however, Trump said he was “the one that kept them [Chinese automakers] out. The tariffs kept them out.” Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are pushing to keep Chinese vehicles off American roads. Senators Bernie Moreno (R-OH) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) introduced the Connected Vehicle Security Act in April, targeting Chinese vehicles, software, and critical components. The bill advanced out of committee in July with unanimous support.
Autonomous Vehicles and National Security
“Chinese cars are surveillance packages on wheels, with the ability to collect on American citizens and transmit that data back to Beijing,” Slotkin said. Similar concerns have followed Waymo’s expansion into Washington, D.C., where its camera-equipped vehicles could travel near the nation’s most sensitive government buildings and security sites.
“These things are covered in cameras, and now you’re gonna send them around all the most sensitive national monuments, national security sites, without the ability to recognize the President needs to be extricated from a situation like we saw at the correspondent’s dinner,” a source familiar with White House security told The Daily Wire.
A Waymo spokesman told the Daily Wire that it complies with all applicable U.S. laws and federal requirements and has a strong commercial incentive to protect its technology from Chinese competitors seeking to expand into markets such as Europe. Waymo also uses Chinese-built vehicles in its fleet but says it installs its proprietary autonomous driving system at an Arizona facility before sending the vehicles out on the roads.
Source: Daily Wire
