Include Drones in Connected Vehicle Study, Hill tells Commerce

 Congressional China hawks called for the Commerce Department to include Chinese drones in evolving regulations for connected vehicles   

"With UAVs’ connected software and hardware posing similar national security threats to those of other identified connected vehicles, such transactions present undue and unacceptable risks to U.S. national security," the lawmakers wrote.

Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party wrote to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo noting the March advance notice of proposed rulemaking requesting input regarding the regulation of connected vehicles in the context of draft regulations for ICTS transactions. [see 11830].  

"As Commerce advances additional rulemaking, we write to request that you expand the proposed definition of a connected vehicle to include unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Otherwise, we request that you launch a new ICTS inquiry into the national security risks posed by UAVs," they wrote.

"The data transmission concerns inherent in connected vehicles currently considered by the Proposed Rulemaking are also present in UAVs.. [PRC UAVs] can transmit their GPS location, as well as the coordinates of their operators back to the PRC, likely to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as the final end-user."

[Letter to Commerce Dept]