The German government is currently developing a national risk analysis concerning the security risks posed by connected vehicles, according to reports citing the newspaper “Spiegel.” Because these vehicles, equipped with cameras, microphones, and various sensors, can capture vast amounts of surrounding and movement data, neighboring countries like Poland and Switzerland have already implemented access restrictions for military grounds. The Federal Ministry of the Interior stated that the risks are currently “of an abstract nature,” while noting that while potential risks, such as state influence over a manufacturer, “cannot be excluded by technical means,” there are no concrete incidents known to the government so far.
Thorbjörn Schulz, a representative in the “Transport and Industry 4.0” department at the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), monitors networked vehicles that can function as data collectors. He emphasized the need to educate the public about the potential leakage of this data, whether it is being used for advertising or for training AI. However, the BSI expert maintains that the primary risks involve attempts at espionage.
Paulina Uznanska, a researcher at the Warsaw Centre for Eastern Studies, has focused intensively on China for years, having analyzed documents from Chinese state bodies as recently as 2025. Her finding is that Beijing adopts a markedly more cautious and restrictive approach to connected vehicles than many states in Europe. According to Uznanska, China primarily views these technologies as critical security assets.
Given the rising number of connected Chinese electric vehicles on German roads, she urges Germany and Europe to take the threat seriously. She offers a severe comparison: a networked car is “like a drone on wheels” and should be treated with the same security seriousness as unmanned aerial devices. The Polish researcher also warns that the collected data could be of interest not only to China. Considering China’s growing military cooperation with Russia, she deems it plausible that data gathered on European streets could potentially end up in Russia.
