On 26 May 2026, MIIT released the 2026 Key Tasks for Automotive Standardization, the first annual roadmap under the 15th Five-Year Plan. The document has outlined 15 actions across 4 major directions, marking a decisive shift from scaling standards volume to targeting strategic technology gaps, tightening safety baselines, and deepening China’s international standardization role. SESEC has prepared an unofficial translation which can be found at the end of the article.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China released 647 automotive standards in total, comprising 54 mandatory national standards, 335 recommended national standards, and 258 sector standards, covering intelligent connected vehicles, new energy vehicles and other key areas.
According to MIIT, standards in NEVs, intelligent connected vehicles, and automotive chips were fully implemented during this period, driving a marked industrial transformation. NEV annual production and sales grew from 3.5 million units in 2021 to 16 million in 2025, ranking first globally for 11 consecutive years. Intelligent connected passenger vehicles equipped with combined driving assistance systems accounted for over 60% of the market, while autonomous driving technology was demonstrated in trunk logistics, urban sanitation, and unmanned delivery scenarios.
For the 15th Five-Year Plan, priorities include dedicated sub-systems for ICV, automotive chips, NEV, and low-carbon development, alongside new research tracks on solid-state batteries, whole-vehicle reliability, data governance, and automotive AI.
On safety, MIIT will accelerate mandatory standards on active and passive safety, advance electronic stability control and braking assistance rules, and push forward collision, accident data recording, and dangerous-goods transport regulations.
Green-transition work targets carbon footprint accounting standards for vehicles, batteries and drive motors, battery recycling and labeling rules, and energy consumption limits aligned with 2030 targets.
Emerging areas receive substantial emphasis. The agenda prioritizes standards for driving automation, vehicle-road-cloud integration, vehicle operating systems, and data security, alongside an accelerated release of automotive chip standards covering control, computing, communication and power chips. Forward-looking work includes AI risk assessment, large-model evaluation, and new-form vehicle concepts such as flying cars. Industry participation is also being broadened, with firms increasingly feeding operational data and technical verification into the standards process.
Internationally, China aims to maintain over 90% convergence between domestic and international standards, deepen engagement in UN/WP.29, ISO/TC22, IEC/TC69 and ITU frameworks, and expand bilateral cooperation with the EU, Germany and the UK. Proposals for new international standards in high-power charging, wireless charging and drive motors are also being advanced.
SAC/TC114(Automotive) will be constituted to support standards delivery, alongside a new sub-committee on vehicle modification. Workflows will also be digitized, with AI applications piloted across the standards development life-cycle, and foreign-language versions of key standards will be compiled to support trade facilitation.
SESEC Translation: SESEC VI Translation – MIIT 2026 Key Points for Auto Standardization
Source: https://wap.miit.gov.cn/xwfb/gxdt/sjdt/art/2026/art_202b76b65f354309a28d38686d988108.html
