Tesla Says Its Car Cameras Aren’t Activated in China

The statement was part of Tesla’s campaign to assure Chinese consumers of privacy after the Chinese government acted on concerns that the vehicles could capture sensitive information and send it back to the U.S. Beijing has restricted the use of Tesla vehicles by military personnel and employees of certain state-owned companies because of national-security risks.

China has become a core market for Tesla. The company sold more than 135,000 vehicles there in 2020, according to the China Passenger Car Association.

The Chinese government’s privacy concerns stem in part from cameras that are installed in Tesla’s cars. Teslas use the cameras to support driver-assistance features and to capture video to deter attempted break-ins. The Chinese government has raised concerns about whether the cameras could take images of sensitive sites.

Beijing has also been concerned about how Teslas can access lists of contacts from drivers’ mobile phones.

Data-privacy issues have been at the forefront of tensions between the U.S. and China. China’s concerns about Tesla vehicles echo U.S. restrictions on telecommunications equipment made by Huawei Technologies Co. and other Chinese companies. American policy makers have said that Huawei equipment could be used to spy for Beijing.

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk told a high-level state-backed conference last month that Tesla would never provide the U.S. government with data collected by its vehicles in China or other countries.

After China’s concerns about Tesla came to light last month, Mr. Musk also praised the country’s environmental policy and reiterated the company’s commitment to selling cars there.

“China in the long term will be our biggest market, both where we make the most number of vehicles and where we have the most number of customers,” he said.

—Yifan Wang contributed to this article.

Write to Matt Grossman at [email protected]