On August 14,Sister Tesla released a statement on its Weibo account in response to recent security risk disputes. According to the statement, all Tesla vehicles are equipped with an intelligent security feature known as Sentry Mode, which helps car owners detect potential threats of damage or theft to their vehicles by recording the surroundings of the vehicles. Previously, Yueyang Airport in China’s Hunan province prohibited the entry of Tesla vehicles due to concerns about Tesla’s Sentry Mode, saying that the feature may pose a potential security risk of information leakage. Tesla clarified that the Sentry Mode is disabled by default and requires car owners to activate it. Tesla explained that the data collected by Sentry Mode from Tesla vehicles is stored offline on a USB device within the vehicle, and neither Tesla nor vehicle owners can access this data through remote online channels. In the statement, the US car maker emphasized that it had established a data center in China, and all data from vehicles sold in the Chinese mainland market is stored within the country. [Tesla statement, in Chinese]
