Europe’s cybersecurity and Poland’s issues about automobiles from China | EUROtoday

As of: January 25, 2026 6:37 a.m

Data collected by good automobiles could possibly be used for espionage, cyber assaults or army functions, consultants warn. Poland is due to this fact beginning to limit using automobiles from China.

By Martha Wilczynski, ARD Warsaw

“We have this tendency to think of a car as just a vehicle that gets us from A to B,” says Paulina Uznańska, an analyst on the Warsaw Center for Eastern Studies and writer of a current widely-watched report entitled “Smartphones on Wheels – Smart Cars from China and Europe’s Cybersecurity.”

In an interview with the Polish radio station TokFM, she explains: “The Chinese are world leaders in the development of intelligent vehicles. These are equipped with numerous sensors, high-resolution cameras and radar devices and enable comprehensive data collection – inside and outside the vehicle.”

And within the worst case, this knowledge could possibly be used for espionage, cyber assaults or army functions.

No parking close to strategically essential objects

It is a realization that has now additionally reached the Polish Ministry of Defense. There is not any official choice but, however the ministry confirmed to the media that automobiles from Chinese producers are not allowed to drive on army grounds or park close to strategically essential objects.

Military members may even be banned from connecting their work smartphones to the on-board computer systems of Chinese automobiles.

The deliberate measure is initially a safeguard, says political scientist and Asia professional Marcin Przychodniak: It is akin to a “vaccine against a disease that we don’t know exactly whether it will break out, but which is quite likely.”

Sales of latest Chinese automobiles tripled

So far, the potential dangers posed by the know-how put in in Chinese automobiles haven’t been a serious subject in Poland. On the opposite: gross sales of latest automobiles from China quadrupled final 12 months alone.

There are good causes for this, explains Kamil Makula, head of the gross sales portal superauto.pl: Chinese automobiles should not solely 15 to twenty % cheaper on common, however are additionally technically state-of-the-art. “The Poles are also technology freaks, they like such technological innovations, they like it when something has a lot of electronics. After all, we also exchange televisions and computers very quickly.”

How does China take care of automobiles from overseas?

But the extra good automobiles there are on Polish and European roads, the extra correct the info they’ll acquire. For her report, China professional Uznańska examined how the Chinese themselves take care of such applied sciences.

“We observe that the Chinese approach foreign smart car manufacturers with great caution. They are aware that there are real risks and are trying to protect themselves from them with their own regulatory system,” mentioned Uznańska. They do that, for instance, with strict guidelines and licensing procedures for overseas firms, which they frequently adapt relying on the extent of technical growth.

Europe can be effectively suggested to take a more in-depth take a look at these laws, the analyst concludes. The EU is at present finishing up an evaluation of the cybersecurity dangers for clever automobiles – however Europe is at present lagging behind China.