(Yicai Global) May 6 -- Tesla is developing an online platform that will allow vehicle owners in China to check their car’s data, The Paper reported today, citing sources at the US electric carmaker.

For privacy reasons, owners now need to apply for written approval from regulators, including judicial bodies, to obtain vehicle data, the report said. The new database is expected to launch this year, it said.

The data from each car can be accessed, used and stored by Tesla technicians during vehicle servicing, or periodically sent to Tesla via a car’s telematics system, according to Tesla car manuals. Among other things, Tesla uses the data to provide telematics services, evaluate vehicle performance, and carry out research and analysis.

The move comes in the wake of two Tesla owners staging a protest against the US carmaker at Auto Shanghailast month. The pair wore T-shirts with the words “brake failure” in red lettering and oneclimbed atop a Tesla Model 3, yelling “the brakes are broken!”Their protest raised concerns among Chinese consumers about the quality of Tesla vehicles.

Later, Tesla released driving data for the owner’s car, but there were claims of tampering. For instance, it is impossible for a car to reach a speed of more than 100 kilometers an hour during rush hour.

Last month, Tesla released an event data recorder query kit on its US website for car owners to access driving data. But owners need to buy the hardware, which is sold only to customers in North America.

China’s laws and regulations on driving data are incomplete at present. Wang Yao, assistant secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said there are no clear legal requirements on carmakers to confirm ownership of autonomous driving data and publish data after an accident.

Although there are many laws and rules on supervision of self-driving data security, they are not really applicable in the field of smart connected vehicles, Wang added.

Editor: Peter Thomas