Poland bans Chinese-made cars with recording tech from military bases

Poland blocks connected vehicle tech

Poland’s Ministry of Defence banned Chinese-made vehicles and any cars equipped with advanced recording technology from entering protected military facilities on Tuesday. The ministry issued the directive following a risk analysis that identified modern car sensors as potential tools for the uncontrolled acquisition and use of sensitive data.

Security officials determined that the suite of gadgets built into modern vehicles poses a direct threat to military operational security. These vehicles often feature high-resolution cameras, microphones, and GPS tracking systems that operate constantly. The ban targets any hardware capable of recording position, images, or sound within the perimeter of sensitive sites.

The directive also introduces strict rules for how military personnel interact with their personal and professional hardware. Officials may no longer connect their work-issued mobile phones to the infotainment systems of cars manufactured in China. This move aims to prevent the automated syncing of contacts, call logs, and location history to vehicle systems that may have backdoors or remote access capabilities.

Security risks in modern cars

The Polish government frames this decision as a necessary response to the evolving nature of automotive technology. Modern cars function as mobile data centers that collect massive amounts of telemetry and environmental information. The Verge has previously reported on how modern EVs use external cameras for driver assistance systems that could easily double as surveillance tools.

Poland’s risk assessment highlights several specific vulnerabilities that led to the ban:

• Constant visual surveillance through 360-degree camera arrays used for parking and autonomous driving.
• Audio recording via high-fidelity microphones intended for voice commands and hands-free calling.
• Precise geolocation data stored in local cache files or uploaded to manufacturer clouds.
• Biometric data collection from internal cameras that monitor driver alertness and eye movement.

The ban is not intended to be a permanent blockade for all manufacturers. The Ministry of Defence has called for the development of a formal vetting process to allow carmakers to undergo a rigorous security assessment. If a manufacturer passes this audit, their vehicles may eventually regain access to protected military facilities.

Certain exemptions remain in place to ensure government functionality. State and local government inspectors may still use their vehicles for official business, and emergency rescue services are exempt from the restrictions during active operations. These exceptions allow for critical infrastructure maintenance and life-saving maneuvers without getting bogged down in security checkpoints.

A complicated manufacturing landscape

Enforcing this ban will likely prove difficult due to the globalized nature of automotive supply chains. Several prominent European brands now manufacture a significant portion of their fleets in Chinese factories. Volvo and Polestar, both owned by the Chinese conglomerate Geely, produce many of their flagship models in China before shipping them to the European market.

Polish border and security guards must now distinguish between vehicles based on their point of origin rather than just the brand logo. A car designed in Sweden but assembled in Chengdu or Luqiao technically falls under the new restrictions. This creates a logistical challenge for military personnel who may have purchased these vehicles before the ban was announced.

Poland claims its new policy aligns with broader security standards observed by NATO members and other Western allies. While many nations prohibit filming on military grounds, Poland is among the first to explicitly name Chinese-made vehicles as a specific category of risk. The United States previously took a similar path by banning Chinese and Russian software in connected cars, effectively barring those vehicles from American roads.

Other nations are taking more individualized approaches to the same problem. In Australia, Cybersecurity Minister Tony Burke recently purchased a Chinese-made electric vehicle and reported the transaction to his own department. Authorities provided him with specific precautions to mitigate the risk of data leakage, though they did not issue a blanket ban on the vehicle's use.

History of technology bans

The automotive ban follows a decade of increasing scrutiny regarding Chinese telecommunications hardware. Many Western nations previously removed Huawei and ZTE equipment from their 5G networks. Intelligence agencies argued that Chinese laws could compel these companies to cooperate with state intelligence operations, regardless of their corporate policies.

Recent cyberattacks have reinforced these fears among European security experts. The Salt Typhoon attacks, attributed to Chinese state-sponsored actors, successfully infiltrated multiple global telecommunications networks. These breaches allowed attackers to gain deep access to client records and operational data, providing a blueprint for how state actors might exploit hardware vulnerabilities.

Security analysts suggest that the risk in automotive tech is even higher than in telecom gear. While network equipment is stationary and monitored, vehicles move freely between civilian and military zones. A compromised car could act as a mobile listening post, capturing data at a variety of sensitive locations before transmitting it back to a manufacturer's server during a routine software update.

Building a sovereign military AI

While Poland is pushing back against foreign hardware, it is simultaneously investing in domestic military technology. On Wednesday, the military announced a new partnership with Dell to power an AI implementation center. This facility will focus on developing and deploying Bielik, a Polish-language large language model.

The Bielik model was originally developed by a local organization called SpeakLeash with technical support from Intel. The Polish military plans to adapt this model for specific defense applications, ensuring that sensitive communications and data processing remain within a sovereign digital ecosystem. Using a locally developed model reduces the reliance on American or Chinese AI platforms that might pose their own data privacy risks.

The AI implementation center will use high-performance Dell hardware to train and run the model on secure, air-gapped networks. This project highlights a growing trend among NATO members to prioritize "technological sovereignty." By building their own AI tools and banning foreign-made connected devices, Poland is attempting to create a "clean" environment for its military operations.

The Polish military's tech strategy now focuses on three main pillars:

• Exclusion of foreign hardware from high-security zones to prevent passive data collection.
• Development of domestic software and AI models to maintain operational independence.
• Collaboration with trusted Western hardware partners like Dell and Intel for core infrastructure.

This aggressive stance marks a significant shift in how European nations view the intersection of consumer technology and national security. As cars become more like smartphones, the Ministry of Defence is treating them as potential espionage tools rather than simple transportation. The ban signals that the "bring your own device" era is officially over for the Polish military.