On October 16, the Ministry of State Security issued a document on WeChat, saying that the work of the national security organs found that an overseas enterprise Company A illegally carried out geographic information surveying and mapping activities in the mainland under the cover of carrying out research on intelligent driving of automobiles by cooperating with Company B with surveying and mapping qualifications in the mainland. Some netizens speculated that the overseas company may be Mobileye, an Israel automotive technology company, based on the information in the article, and also made a variety of speculations about the "B company". On the evening of October 16, NavInfo, Tesla, and Zeekr also issued documents to refute the rumors, saying that the company had nothing to do with "illegal surveying and mapping by an overseas enterprise".
Tesla issued an article to refute the rumors.
The reporter of Nandu Bay Finance Society called NavInfo about the above rumors, and the relevant person in charge told the reporter of NavInfo, "We have also noticed the report, and it is certain that (the aforementioned Company B) is not NavInfo." At the same time, the person in charge said that after seeing the news, the company was also surprised and did not know what the specific situation was.
Regarding the online rumors, the person in charge said that the company's cooperation with Mobileye took place in 2018.
According to public information, Mobileye was acquired by Intel in 2017 and listed independently in 2022.
In January 2018, during the 2018 CES keynote, Intel ·CEO Brian Krzanich announced that his subsidiary Mobileye and NavInfo had entered into a comprehensive strategic partnership to develop and release Mobileye's Road Network Capture Management (REM®) product in China.
The relevant person in charge of NavInfo said in an interview with Wancaishe, "Whether it is with multinational car companies or local independent brands, we have a strict process to ensure compliance. In addition, the person in charge also said that NavInfo not only provides maps and data services, but also provides data compliance services, and all business development is carried out in strict accordance with national requirements.
NavInfo issued a new article to refute the rumors.
The Ministry of State Security's WeChat account released an article on October 16 titled "The Leakage of Hidden Surveying and Mapping Secrets", saying that in recent years, as the state security organs have intensified their efforts to crack down on illegal surveying and mapping activities, some overseas organizations have gradually turned to carry out so-called project cooperation with domestic enterprises to evade supervision and illegally collect the mainland's original surveying and mapping data, threatening the security of mainland countries.
The Ministry of State Security's WeChat account released "The Leakage of Hidden Surveying and Mapping Secrets" on October 16.
The work of the state security organs found that Company A was a contractor for a project in a key sensitive area of a certain country, and according to the Surveying and Mapping Law of the People's Republic of China, it did not have the qualifications to carry out geographic information surveying and mapping activities in the mainland alone. In order to circumvent the supervision of the mainland industry authorities, the company outsourced the project many times on the grounds of automotive intelligent driving research, and finally entrusted a domestic company B with surveying and mapping qualifications to implement it. Driven by the temptation of economic interests, Company B has completely become a marionette of Company A, and its surveying and mapping qualifications have played a cover role for Company A to illegally obtain surveying and mapping data in China.
In addition, the article mentions that in order to directly obtain the original surveying and mapping data as much as possible, Company A crosses the layers of project subcontracting, leads the progress of the surveying and mapping project throughout the process, directly directs the personnel of Company B to carry out surveying and mapping in many provinces in the mainland, and specially appoints foreign technical experts to carry out practical guidance to the surveying and mapping personnel of Company B, focusing on the storage, processing and circulation of surveying and mapping data. Finally, under the control and instruction of Company A, Company B transferred the surveying and mapping data out of the country.
Written by: Zhao Yuan, trainee reporter of Nandu · Bay Finance Society