China electric buses: Denmark, Norway investigate security loophole

Bus providers in Denmark and Norway are urgently investigating what they say is a security loophole in their fleets of vehicles made by China's Yutong.

Fears over dependency on Chinese technology have reached an unlikely corner of the West: the previously serene and efficient world of Scandinavian public transportation.

European nations have become increasingly worried that their vast amounts of Chinese-built infrastructure could be weaponized — tampered with, immobilized or even commandeered — if tensions were to rise with Beijing.

Now, bus providers in Denmark and Norway say they are urgently investigating and remedying what they say is a security loophole discovered in their fleets of vehicles made by Yutong, a company based in Zhengzhou, China, that is the world’s largest manufacturer of buses by sales volume.

Because these buses can receive updates and diagnostic tests “over the air,” they can be “stopped remotely, either by the manufacturer or by a hacker,” Jeppe Gaard, chief operating officer of the Danish public transport provider Movia, told NBC News in an email Wednesday.

“Electric buses, like electric cars, in principle can be remotely deactivated if their software systems have online access,” he said. This isn’t just a “Chinese bus concern; it is a challenge for all types of vehicles and devices with these kinds of electronics built in,” Gaard added.