BEIJING, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- Cooperation on autonomous-driving technology and coordination on standards and rules will be key topics at a major automotive industry conference in Beijing next month, organizers said Monday.
The 2026 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference will be held from Oct. 21 to 23 in Yizhuang, Beijing.
The event will feature high-level dialogues on the two areas and also seek to promote policy exchanges, mutual recognition of standards, technological collaboration, and industrial and supply chain cooperation, said Qu Guochun, secretary-general of the conference organizing committee.
The conference will showcase breakthroughs in core technologies, industry advances and examples of large-scale deployment in areas that include autonomous driving, in-vehicle artificial intelligence and vehicle-road-cloud coordination. It will also present the full development path of intelligent connected vehicles, from research and development, testing and validation, and scenario-based pilots to large-scale application, Qu said.
Passenger vehicles equipped with Level 2 combined driver-assistance functions had a penetration rate of 70.5 percent in China this year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The first batch of Level 3 conditional automated-driving vehicles has begun operating on public roads in designated areas.
China in August released a mandatory national standard setting safety requirements for Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous driving systems. The standard is scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2027.
The world's first global technical regulation on automated driving systems was adopted in June. It was jointly developed by China, the European Union, Britain, the United States, Canada and Japan.
Yizhuang is home to the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, Beijing's only national-level economic and technological development zone. The area has cultivated and strengthened a modern system of emerging and forward-looking industries.
Hao Lishun, an official with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said the conference, launched in 2018, has become an important platform for the global auto industry to drive technological innovation, promote international exchanges and build consensus.
Weng Youling, an official with the Ministry of Transport, said the ministry has launched an initiative to promote innovation in typical application scenarios for "AI plus transportation." It will continue to expand intelligent-driving application scenarios, strengthen digital and intelligent infrastructure, and promote closer integration of intelligent connected vehicles with the transport system, Weng said.
A five-year industry development plan released this month says vehicles equipped with autonomous driving functions are expected to see large-scale application by 2030, while highly automated driving is expected on expressways, urban express roads and some urban roads. ■
