its my understanding that the US has banned Chinese EVs based on their “ability to send telemetry back to China” (fwiw, every manufacturer is doing something similar, but that’s out of scope for this question).

Waymo has a new class of car they’re using called the Ojai (Oh, hi) that is built by Zeeker, a Chinese company, that is built in China. This seems like it would run afoul of that ban.

I thought I heard somewhere that the car is built in China, but the infotainment system and ecu are then installed here in America, which bypasses that issue. If that’s the case. Why don’t other manufacturers import Chinese EVs and drop in their own infotainment systems for much cheaper?

Edit: it’d be nice to have answers grounded with proof, not just “because bribes! and the oligarchy!”

  • Steve
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    7 days ago

    Two things can be true at the same time. We’re both right.

    • schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works
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      7 days ago

      Yup. We sure can… but there’s a fine line between protecting sclerotic industries and protecting American workers, and I frankly don’t trust this President to even care about the difference. His administration seems to be driven by “beating China” with the simple-minded fervor of a cat at feeding time.

      • Steve
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        7 days ago

        Biden put the Chinese vehicle tariff in place. And it’s almost entirely about protecting the companies. Protecting the jobs is more a side effect, I expect.

        • schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works
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          7 days ago

          Yup. It looks like Biden upped the tarrif on Chinese EVs from 25% to 100%.

          Trump’s anti-Chinese bias isn’t unique to him; it’s been part of the policy establishment for a while. China is obviously coming to replace the United States as the Top Dog and a lot of policy makers do not like it.