Researchers drove a NIO ES8 electric SUV deep into a Norwegian underground mine specifically to sever its external connections. The car kept attempting to reach servers, most of them located in China. These findings echo broader concerns about hidden data collection, similar to how a surveillance app was built to covertly target users without their knowledge.
That finding sits at the center of Project Lion Cage, a multi-year study initiated in 2022 by Tor Indstøy, a risk management and threat intelligence executive at Telenor Group. Indstøy purchased the NIO ES8 as a dedicated research platform.
The project arrives as Chinese EV brands expand across European markets with assurances about local data processing. Observed network behavior appears to contradict those assurances.
A more honest researcher would say “bought any vehicle from x country and it kept trying to contact servers in x country even after driving it into a mine”. They lose credibility when they try to insinuate that this only happens with EVs and only with China made vehicles.
I have no idea what the point is of driving it into a mine? Of course the client will keep trying to reconnect to the server, that’s how software usually works…