Any vehicle with OTA access needs a SIM card.

BYD clearly states you can disable OTA in the car menu. If you don’t believe that, it’s easy to locate and pull the SIM card.

They don’t magically connect to data services.

So exactly what is China going to do with exabytes of data on how people drive around? They are going to monitor millions of drivers? how?

Chinese manufactures have no choice, they ship surveillance software when they are told to or they don’t get to sell internationally.

Any serious source for this? How about we reserve the paranoia for our ex-friends down south?