Turkish defense firms bar foreign electric cars from their campuses, citing sensor and software risks that could expose sensitive sites

Mahmut Faruk Akşit, general manager of Turkish engine maker TEI, said ASELSAN, ROKETSAN, HAVELSAN and TEI do not allow foreign-made electric vehicles onto their campuses because their cameras, sensors and software are not under the companies’ control.

The vehicles’ sensors could map defense installations and allow outside parties to gather detailed information, Akşit warned. Domestically manufactured electric vehicles are permitted because, he said, their software and control systems are under Turkish control.

Akşit also described a possible wartime threat: if a connected vehicle’s software were compromised, it could be redirected into a sensitive facility like a ground-based guided missile. He said this was his personal assessment of a potential danger, not a report of an actual incident.

Akşit made the remarks at a conference at Pamukkale University in Denizli. He also said TEI protects critical information using systems physically separated from the internet.