Norway: Chinese-made electric buses have major security flaw, can be remotely stopped and disabled by their manufacturer in China, Oslo operator says
The public transport operator in Norway’s capital said Tuesday that some electric buses from China have a serious flaw – software that could allow the manufacturer, or nefarious actors, to take control of the vehicle.
Oslo’s transport operator Ruter said they had tested two electric buses this summer – one built by China’s Yutong and the other by Dutch firm VDL.
The Chinese model featured a SIM card that allowed the manufacturer to remotely install software updates that made it vulnerable, whereas the Dutch model did not.
“We’ve found that everything that is connected poses a risk – and that includes buses,” Ruter director Bernt Reitan Jenssen told public broadcaster NRK.
“There is a risk that for example suppliers could take control, but also that other players could break into this value chain and influence the buses.”
Ruter said it was now developing a digital firewall to guard against the issue.
According to other reports, the Chinese manufacturer has access to each bus’s software updates, diagnostics, and battery control systems. “In theory, the bus could therefore be stopped or rendered unusable by the manufacturer,” the company said.
Ruter has reported its findings to Norway’s Ministry of Transport and Communications.
Arild Tjomsland, a special advisor at the University of South-Eastern Norway who helped conduct the tests, said: “The Chinese bus can be stopped, turned off, or receive updates that can destroy the technology that the bus needs to operate normally.”
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How about our policy were not to become enemies of thr largest manufacturing hub and rising world power with 3 times our population?
If a policy to remain independent means becoming the enemy of someone, it’s not the policy that’s the problem.
How are we China’s enemy? We’re the ones suddenly trying to nationalize companies like Nexperia. When did China do something like this? Obeying leader Trump in 5% military expenditure isn’t exactly being independent either.
@Socialism_Everyday@reddthat.com
What an absurdly flawed argument. China never did something like that simply because a foreign company is legally banned from owning its own Chinese subsidiary in the first place. You always need a Chinese partner that would then own the majority of “your” company.
I’m answering to the comment about “becoming their enemy by being independent”. I’m asking for evidence of China choosing Europe as its enemy, as I genuinely haven’t seen such hostile acts unless in retaliation from Europe choosing to suddenly become China’s enemy.
Well no, America chose to became China’s enemy, and Europe is following them as they have since WWII.
Hi! Person with knowledge of doing business in China as a “western company”. You start up your company and hire Chinese engineers. After a while many of them will quit and instead work for a newly created company across the street that do the exact same thing as you do (soon to be “did”).
Huh, I thought we loved free market competition in Europe. If you can’t keep your workers or compete against another firm, by market logic your business isn’t efficient and shouldn’t exist.
You’ve never held a job, correct? It would be difficult to explain not understanding “company secrets” otherwise.
I work in public research, where knowledge is, well, published, i.e. made public so that it benefits everyone. I’m in principle aganst intellectual property. Regardless: if you believe intellectual property is being violated there are laws against that.
… the takeaway I expected people to get from my post was that no, in China your IP and your business secrets are not respected and you have no recourse when it happens.
Do you often believe yourself to know everything on all subjects?
And what prevents you from doing the same then
As someone who has also experience of doing business in China as a “Western company”: Yes, that’s exactly the way it is.
Bill Gates and Apple. Both are shit business models, but this isn’t a “Chinese specific” thing.
You do realise that China defined ‘restricted’ industrial sectors where foreigners at most can form a joint venture with a Chinese company which must own more than the foreign one? We granted far more liberties to the Chinese than the other way round.
That still doesn’t respond to my initial question of when China has designated Europe as its enemy, which is why I brought up the particular event of escalation of economic warfare that Europe decided to engage in this very week.
You can call it “enemy”, you can call it “rival”, or whatever you like: China views itself as in competition with us and hence will naturally try to shift things in their favour. Which is completely fine by me, that’s just how it goes if you want to be a major power. But we shouldn’t pretend that our interests, i.a. a strong Europe, is China’s interest. Because it isn’t.
Economic rival in competition =/= warfare, which was the comment above the thread. The context was conflict
Rivalry isn’t limited to the economic domain. We are also political rivals as they oppose democracy and our open societies. We are geopolitical rivals when it comes to their desire to invade Taiwan or their ongoing support of the aggressor behind the largest war in Europe since WW2. All this could eventually lead to warfare, so we ought to be prepared.
And we don’t? I’m a Spaniard and in my country we have literal political prisoners and exiles because we are violating the human right to self determination with Catalonia. Greece voted for the revision of sovereign debt in referendum and the Troika came in to threaten them with kicking them out of the Euro if they enacted the democratic will of the people. Berlin had a referendum to cap rent prices but it was declared illegal by a judge. Emmanuel Macron skipped congress to rise the retirement age using emergency powers, and when millions of protests ensued, the government did nothing. All of Europe is rising military expenditure to 5% of GDP regardless of party elected, except possibly Spain (unconfirmed). All of Europe simultaneously adopts austerity policy since 2008, regardless of country or party elected, and the EU literally will sanction your country if you avoid it by having more deficit than centrally and antidemocratically established. None of this points to democracy.
I don’t recall voting for the rise of interest rates during the inflation crisis of 2022, or for the rise of GDP expenditure to 5%, have you voted for either of those things? How about we get off our high horse of European supremacy and we start looking at the reality: the threat in Europe is inside. We have far right parties dominating the political spectrum everywhere or about to do so, we are supporting the genocide of Palestinians, and we are following the lead of fucking Trump while he openly declares intentions to militarily annex Greenland.
Are we geopolitical rivals when it comes to Taiwan’s desire to invade mainland China? The Republic of China also declares itself the rightful government of all Chinese people and declares its intents to rule over all of China. Should we start sanctioning TSMC?