As discussed in detail with my pal Dave in early-and-mid 2020, it seems like autonomous cars make a pretty good platform for spying… innocent-looking mobile platforms with video and audio capability, which can be re-routed without suspicion* “a little bit out of the way” into an area of interest with the tweak of an algorithm here and there.

Looks like China is now concerned about similar capabilities with Teslas.

Personally, I hope someone like the Electronic Freedom Foundation ensures laws are created to prohibit the following:

  1. domestic government agencies "rerouting" an AV for purposes of spying, and
  2. advertisers "rerouting" an AV to "happen" to drive by an event or location (such as that BBQ joint filling the air with delicious BBQ smells).

* when you outsource routing decisions to your AV car, you really won’t be aware of the “reason” the AV decided to drive past that suspected drug den or BBQ joint.