Overview
- The Senate Commerce Committee advanced the Connected Vehicle Security Act last week, moving a bipartisan proposal that would bar sale, import and production of connected vehicles by firms more than 15% owned by Chinese-linked entities toward a full Senate vote.
- Mercedes‑Benz faces potential exposure because two Chinese-linked stakes together total roughly 19.7–20%, and the company says no single shareholder holds more than 10% and stresses its large U.S. footprint and jobs.
- Sponsors Sens. Elissa Slotkin and Bernie Moreno frame the bill as a national security step to keep location, camera, voice and telemetry data off foreign networks and the text includes a Commerce Department authorization and waiver path plus discussed compliance timelines stretching toward 2030.
- Regulatory precedent has already produced enforcement: the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security last month denied Polestar an authorization under the administration’s connected-vehicle rule, blocking new connected Polestar models from the U.S.
- If enacted, the law could force automakers to rework supply chains, shift production and raise vehicle prices for buyers in the U.S., but it still requires full congressional passage and the president’s signature before taking effect.