D66 in the States of Groningen is concerned about the plan of transport company Qbuzz to order buses from the Chinese manufacturer Yutong. On Wednesday, the party demanded guarantees from the provincial government about the cyber security of the new electric vehicles. This concerns the replacement of more than fifty Qliners with electric buses in Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe. The buses between Emmen, Stadskanaal, Assen, Drachten and Groningen and between Veendam and Assen must be replaced by electric models in the coming two years. Qbuzz had previously ordered 54 buses from the Dutch manufacturer Van Hool, but that went bankrupt. Now, after a market survey that also looked at the European market, the company wants to purchase the buses from Yutong. The OV-bureau has confirmed that the Yutong buses are comparable to the Van Hools in terms of functionality and quality. The provincial government, together with Drenthe, is responsible for the tendering of public transport in Groningen. That is why there are concerns in the States of Groningen. For example, D66 member of parliament Paula Benjamins wonders whether China will still be able to influence the buses in the future. “The choice for these buses entails risks, because modern buses are connected to data systems via software. They do not only collect data about driving behaviour and performance. We do not know where it ends up.” But sabotage and dependency are also an issue, says Benjamins: “Can 'backdoors' in the software be used to, for example, stop our public transport?” Responsible deputy Johan Hamster is less concerned: “Qbuzz has, partly at our request, imposed many conditions on data security. In addition, the axles and seats come from Europe, among other things. We do not want to be afraid, but we do want to be prepared and anticipate this. Most of the software is from Qbuzz itself. That is reassuring. In addition, Qbuzz has assured us that the safety of various components in the bus is guaranteed, to prevent things from happening that we do not want.” Hamster finally states that there are simply no buses being made in Europe that meet the demand, now that Van Hool is bankrupt: “We need buses that can drive a hundred kilometers per hour over longer distances and are zero-emission. The European market is not ready for that yet, but we want to go that fast. That is why we ended up in China. Perhaps it is good to remember that many parts of other buses also come from China.” ???????????? ► Welcome to Omroep Organisatie Groningen (OOG), the local news channel where you can really get to know the city of Groningen and the surrounding villages in the municipality! ► At OOG, everything revolves around bringing current news, interesting reports, fascinating stories and surprising events from the region. Our goal is to keep all residents of the municipality of Groningen informed of what is happening. ► Tips or comments? Whatsapp or call: 050 5718080 ► Follow OOG: Instagram - / oogtv Facebook - / oogrtv X - / oogtv TikTok: / oog_groningen LinkedIn: / oog-tv Website - https://www.oogtv.nl/