Tesla is Developing a Platform That Allows Customers in China Access to Their Vehicle Data

author: FutureCar Staff    

As electric automaker Tesla plans its expansion in China, the company is under pressure from government officials over how the company collects user data from its vehicles, but the company plans to provide customers access to it.

On Thursday, Tesla said its developing a platform for car owners in China that will allow them to access data generated by their vehicles, Reuters reported. Tesla aims to launch the platform by this year.

This is the first time an automaker has announced plans to allow customers access car data in China, the world's biggest car market.

Tesla collects anonymous performance data from all of its U.S. vehicles, and opting out is not an option for owners.

Some of the data Tesla collects is vehicle speed, Autopilot data and camera images. The Autopilot data is used to improve Tesla's autonomous driving features and is fed to its neural networks.

Although Tesla owners have no control over how Tesla uses vehicle data, thay can request it from the company. 

Automakers for the past several years have been equipping more vehicles with cameras and sensors to capture images of a car's surroundings. For example, Tesla' Sentry Mode activates and records from the vehicle's cameras. How these images are stored and transmitted is a new challenge for the industry and regulators worldwide.

China last month published draft rules to ensure the security of data generated by smart cars. Data collected from Tesla vehicles in China is stored in the country, a company executive said last month.

Last month, Tesla was targeted by state media and regulators after a customer angry over the handling of her complaint about malfunctioning brakes, climbed on top of a Tesla car in protest at the Shanghai auto show. Videos of the incident went viral.

The woman's parents were injured in a February crash in a Model 3, which she blamed on defective brakes. Tesla provided the data related to the brake incident to the customer complying with the local authorities' order.

Tesla owners in the U.S. have requested vehicles data from Tesla in the past after accidents while using Autopilot. One owner in New York complained to Tesla about uncontrolled acceleration that led to a crash. In 2018, Tesla fought the driver in court over the release of vehicle data that might prove that the driver wasn't at fault due to a malfunction with their vehicle while using Autopilot.

The owner, Wei-Leung Chan was involved in a rear end collision and was seeking the data from his Tesla Model X to prove that the accident was caused by a fault with Autopilot.

But its different for Tesla in China. Tesla is being forced to answer to Chinese regulators regarding the safety of its vehicles. In response to the various complaints from other owners, Tesla said it would set up a China data center, launch self-inspection to improve services and work more closely with regulators. 

In addition to building a platform to access vehicle data in China, Tesla is also boosting its engagement with regulators and is expanding its government relations team, industry sources told Reuters.

FutureCar Staff