On June 4th, the National Standard Information Public Service Platform publicized a notice soliciting opinions on the proposed mandatory national standard project of "Safety Requirements for Integrated Driving Assistance Systems of Intelligent Connected Vehicles". This means that the mandatory national standard for L2-level assisted driving is coming.

 

01 Strengthen safety supervision

 

It is learned that this mandatory national standard aims to ensure the safety of intelligent connected vehicles in the integrated driving assistance system, that is, L2-level assisted driving. It was proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and entrusted to the Intelligent Connected Vehicle Branch of the National Technical Committee for Automotive Standardization for implementation. The main drafting units include China Automotive Technology and Research Center Co., LTD., Dongfeng Motor Corporation Limited, Huawei Technologies Co., LTD., etc. The project cycle is 22 months. It was submitted on March 22, 2024, and the public announcement period is from June 4, 2025 to July 4, 2025.

 

According to the public information, this standard is applicable to M and N class vehicles equipped with integrated driving assistance systems. It stipulates the general technical requirements for integrated driving assistance systems, mainly including motion control capability, driver status monitoring, driver intervention, system detection capability, system safety requirements, functional safety, etc., and also specifies the corresponding review requirements. Clarify the test methods for typical working conditions.

 

The formulation of this mandatory national standard is of great significance. It can restrain the functional performance of combined driving assistance systems, promote the improvement of product safety performance, reduce safety accidents caused by product performance defects, enhance the level of road traffic safety, and provide support for industry management.

 

At present, assisted driving has become a key focus of intelligent driving safety supervision worldwide. Under the premise of being reasonable and feasible, the technical content of this standard is in line with international standards, which will greatly reduce the R&D costs and design difficulties of enterprises. It will also play an important role in the international development of similar products in China and the elimination of technical barriers in international trade.

 

It is also worth noting that at the end of April this year, the Department of Equipment Industry I of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the key points of automotive standardization work in 2025, which includes promoting the approval, release and implementation of standards for the design and operation conditions of autonomous driving, automatic parking, and autonomous driving simulation testing, accelerating the development of mandatory national standards for the safety requirements of autonomous driving systems, and establishing a safety baseline for autonomous driving systems. Accelerate the formulation and revision of mandatory national standards such as combined driving assistance systems and automatic emergency braking systems, revise the standards for lane keeping assistance systems, promote the development of standards such as reversing assistance, and enhance the safety level of driving assistance products. It can be seen that in addition to the combined driving assistance system, there is a series of standards on the road.

 

02 Move from chaos to standardized development

 

From the perspective of the current industry situation, L2-level assisted driving has been widely applied in vehicles. Xin Guobin, vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, once pointed out that in the first half of 2023, the sales proportion of new passenger vehicles equipped with combined driving assistance systems in China reached 42.4%. According to data from the China Passenger Car Association Branch, in 2023, the proportion of new energy passenger vehicles equipped with L2-level or higher assisted driving systems reached 55.3%.

 

With the rapid increase in the penetration rate of assisted driving, there are hidden dangers behind the industry. In recent years, some car manufacturers have exaggerated when promoting intelligent driving, blurting out the concepts of assisted driving and autonomous driving, and packaging assisted driving as autonomous driving for promotion, which has misled consumers and led to some tragedies. Especially the three-person fatal collision accident involving Xiaomi on the highway that occurred at the end of March this year has drawn the attention of the whole society.

 

In the face of chaos, the regulatory authorities and the industry have carried out multi-dimensional governance. In mid-April, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology took action to vigorously rectify the chaos in intelligent driving of automobiles, emphasizing that automobile manufacturers should fully carry out tests and verifications of combined driving assistance, clearly define the functional boundaries of the system and safety response measures, refrain from exaggerated and false publicity, and strictly fulfill the obligation of notification. Subsequently, the promotional slogans of car manufacturers gradually shifted from "advanced intelligent driving" to "assisted driving", and the "intelligent driving for all" craze since the beginning of the year rapidly cooled down.

 

At the industry level, on April 21st, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in collaboration with the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, issued the "Initiative for Regulating the Promotion and Application of Driving Assistance", proposing to standardize marketing and promotional behaviors, eliminate false and excessive marketing, avoid the use of ambiguous or misleading expressions, ensure the scientific and rigorous naming of functions, and prevent the risk of drivers misusing or abusing them.

 

On April 27th, senior executives from Huawei, GAC, SAIC, JAC, Audi, Dongfeng Mengshi, and Lantu jointly signed and released the "Intelligent Assisted Driving Safety Initiative", calling on the entire industry to promote it in a realistic manner and clarify the functional boundaries and usage conditions of intelligent assisted driving. It is advocated that the entire industry join hands, actively participate in the construction of industry standards, and continuously improve and perfect safety standards.

 

In the future, with the implementation of the mandatory national standards for L2-level assisted driving, the industry will enter a dual-driven stage of "technology + compliance". As the safety framework for L2-level assisted driving becomes increasingly clear, whether the legislative process for L3-level autonomous driving will accelerate may become the focus of the next round of industry discussions.

 

Originally published on China Auto News Network on June 9, 2025