Tesla cars to be banned from Chinese government buildings amid security fears — report

Tesla drivers in China are reportedly facing entry bans in government-affiliated buildings as security concerns with the US increase. 

According to a report published by Nikkei Asia, an increasing number of meeting halls and exhibition centres across the country are refusing entry to Tesla vehicles.

The report states previous restrictions for the vehicles were generally limited just to military bases, but now a growing number of highway operators, local authority agencies, and cultural centres are reportedly enforcing them. 

In an interview with Nikkei Asia, a local claimed the Grand Halls conference centre in Shanghai has banned Tesla vehicles on its grounds completely, whether it be to park, or just passing through.

"If you have a meeting there, the meeting organizer will actually give you notice ahead of time and ask that you don't drive or hire a Tesla car," the interview subject said. "You cannot enter the venue with a Tesla car."

Previously, Chinese cities which were playing host to large sporting events reportedly enforced a ban on Tesla vehicles using select roads through Chengdu — a city where military and tech development is known to occur. 

Tesla’s sentry mode feature was reportedly pushed to the forefront of concern in China last year, when an airport in Yueyang prohibited Tesla vehicles from parking on its premises could potentially reveal sensitive information.

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The report says Tesla has made attempts to remedy these security concerns by installing a local data centre in China. 

Upon unveiling this data centre, the American brand reportedly issued a statement, guaranteeing "all data generated by vehicles sold in China will be stored locally”.

This was reportedly followed up with a statement from Tesla noting all data collected by a vehicle’s sentry mode function is stored internally on a USB drive, and isn’t able to be accessed remotely.