The ministry also cautioned the companies not to overstate the role of the assistance systems, it said.
“The meeting and the warnings represent a necessary step by authorities to regulate the market,” said Phate Zhang, founder of Shanghai-based EV data provider CnEVPost. “Rampant tests of navigation-on-autopilot [NOA] systems on highways and city roads carry high risks because most drivers are still unaware of the basics of autonomous driving.”
Before the accident, regulation on the use of NOA systems was loose amid a “misperception that the technology had grown mature”, Zhang added.
At the conference, the MIIT – China’s top regulator of the manufacturing and information-technology sectors – reiterated that carmakers and technology firms were barred from conducting mass testing of self-driving technologies unless they received approval from relevant authorities, according to a transcript.
They are not allowed to conduct over-the-air (OTA) software updates without official approval either.
