(Yicai Global) May 13 -- China is tightening its rules on sharing driving data, suggesting that car logs should be kept inside the country as vehicles keep on getting smarter.

Chinese regulators yesterday released a new draft bill on car data security management, seeking public feedback.

Compared with traditional cars, smart connected cars integrate multiple sensors such as cameras, radars, speedometers, and navigators, which can collect various types of data inside and outside the car, Zhou Hongyi, founder and chief executive of Qihoo 360 Technology, said in his proposal during the Two Sessions earlier this year.

Once such data are stolen, user privacy will be compromised, said the CEO of the antivirus software company. Moreover, if road data is broadly integrated with satellite maps, national security may even be at stake, Zhou added.

Car companies should ask users' permission before collecting their personal information and store that data in China, according to the draft bill, formulated by many government agencies, including the Cyberspace Administration of China.

If some data should be sent abroad, vehicle companies would need to go through security assessments organized by China's regulatory authorities, according to the document.

When research and business partners make queries, car companies should protect sensitive data such as vehicle location, audio or video of the driver and passengers, as well as data that can be used to prove illegal driving behaviors.

One recent incident could have played out differently if the bill had already become a law. Late last month, Tesla publicly released driving data of a car that was involved in an accident in China after the dissatisfied vehicle owner protested at Auto Shanghai, claiming the brakes didn't work. The husband of the woman, who was detained for five days, said the US carmaker violated its clients' personal privacy rights.

Operators will be punished or held criminally responsible in violation of the rules, according to the draft.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi