Jasper Addison Baron
21.3K posts
@MeowOChan38
No school. No work. Just meow meow!
Hundreds of 🇨🇳 Yutong electric buses on Britain’s roads could be remotely switched off by China with a “kill switch”, Britain’s security services have found. The buses are connected to the internet by onboard SIM cards that are intended to be used for software updates, but could also be vulnerable to meddling by Beijing, officials at the Department for Transport (DfT) and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) believe. The security experts launched an inquiry in Nov after concerns were raised in Norway that 🇨🇳 Yutong electric buses could be remotely “stopped or rendered inoperable by the manufacturer”. According to the National Cyber Security Centre, it’s “technically possible” for the buses to be remotely shut down from China. But ministers are not able to block the sale of the buses in Britain because there is no concrete evidence of Chinese subterfuge and that banning them could cause further diplomatic tension with Beijing. “They haven’t found any evidence that it has actually happened. And there are wider considerations at play about how we deal with China, of which this is only a small part.” Government security experts do not believe there is a serious risk that the buses will actually be remotely switched off, and investigators do not think the “kill switch” function has yet been used. However, the findings will fuel concern about the level of Chinese control over British infrastructure, after calls from Labour MPs for Beijing to be shut out of industry, rail, water and power. Downing Street has instead pushed for more foreign investment from China, which ministers believe will boost economic growth and provide private sector capital for Labour’s green power plans. Later this month, Sir Keir Starmer is expected to become the first British prime minister to travel to China since 2018. The Government is expected to approve the construction of a major new Chinese embassy in the City of London this month, despite fears over its proximity to crucial underground cables carrying financial data and redacted plans for secret basements. Labour’s push to cut carbon emissions from public transport has seen dozens more Yutong buses deployed on Britain’s streets, even since Norway’s discovery in October that the bus batteries could be remotely accessed and disconnected by their manufacturer. Nottingham city council said last month it had replaced its entire stock of single-decker buses with Yutong electric models, and intended to do the same with its double-decker fleet by the end of this year. The Yorkshire-based company that supplies Yutong buses in the UK has also been placed on an approved list of suppliers in Kent, public procurement documents show. Around 700 Yutong buses are currently in operation across Britain, used by well-known groups including Stagecoach and First Bus, which are thought to each own more than 200 of the vehicles. Ruter, the public transport agency in Oslo, has placed new security requirements on the buses, including firewalls to prevent them from being hacked. The software on most Yutong buses in the UK is updated manually, with a physical cable connection, rather than with “over the air” wireless technology. There are no plans to place a security warning on the buses, as Norway has done, although the NCSC will continue to monitor investigations into Yutong in other countries, including Denmark and Australia. Yutong Bus, based in Zhengzhou, is a private Chinese company that has risen to become the world’s largest exporter of electric buses. The company has said that its buses cannot be remotely controlled because their internet-enabled software unit is not connected to the main driving controls, including braking and steering. telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/0…
