By Stephen Nellis and Michael Martina
(Reuters) – Chinese-made lidar sensors could expose the U.S. military to hacking and sabotage during a conflict, according to a Washington think tank report published on Monday that calls for a ban on installing these sensors in American defense equipment.
Lidar sensors use lasers to create a three-dimensional digital map of the world around them. While it is often found in driver-assistance systems in the automotive industry, it is also used in critical systems such as ports, where it assists automated cranes.
The US military is also considering putting the technology into autonomous military vehicles. But the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies said in a report that lidar sensors, often connected to the internet, use advanced processors that can allow the hiding of malicious code or firmware backdoors that are difficult to detect.
Such “hardware trojans” can be used by the Chinese government, which under Chinese law can force companies to comply with national security regulations. Satellite-based laser systems can also be used to target or disable such sensors in seconds over a wide area of US territory, the foundation said.
“Although Chinese LIDAR sensors may be cheaper, it is clear that the long-term costs of destruction and surveillance outweigh the savings,” Craig Singleton, a senior official at the foundation and one of the authors of the report, told Reuters.
The foundation recommended that US lawmakers ban the purchase of Chinese lidar in defense gear and that the US government ban its use in critical infrastructure. The think tank also recommended that US policymakers work with allied countries such as Germany, Canada, South Korea, Israel and Japan to develop an alternative way to distribute lidar to China.
While several well-known lidar suppliers such as Valeo, Luminar Technologies and Aeva Technologies are based in Europe or the United States, China has also become a major player in the industry with firms such as the Hesai Group.
The US Department of Defense in October signed a plan to return Hesai to the list of companies it says work with the Chinese military.
(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco and Michael Martina in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)