The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology takes action on assisted driving: No exaggeration or false advertising! The Ministry of Public Security's Road Research Center: False advertising of autonomous driving may face a prison term of less than 2 years

In 2025, accidents in the field of intelligent driving occurred frequently, from the serious traffic accident involving the standard version of Xiaomi SU7 on the highway in March to the recent news of various drivers sleeping while using assisted driving functions frequently trending online. Such incidents not only sparked unprecedented public attention but also reflected numerous issues with the practical application of intelligent driving technology.

On the evening of April 16, the Equipment Industry Division I of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released an announcement on the MIIT official website, titled "Equipment Industry Division I Holds a Meeting to Promote the Access and Online Upgrade Management of Intelligent Connected Vehicle Products" (hereinafter referred to as "Announcement"). The announcement particularly emphasized that automobile manufacturers must clarify the boundaries of system functions and safety response measures, prohibit exaggerated and false advertising, strictly fulfill their obligation to inform, effectively assume the primary responsibility for production consistency and quality safety, and enhance the safety level of intelligent connected vehicle products.

Image source: MIIT official website

It is noteworthy that after the release of the above announcement by the MIIT, a screenshot suspected to be a meeting minutes began circulating online. Its content mainly includes three major directions: tightening the promotion of intelligent driving capabilities, standardizing the use of intelligent driving capabilities, and strictly managing the deployment and risks of intelligent driving functions. After sorting through various details, there are dozens of items in total. In response, a reporter sought verification from BYD, and the other party responded, "The content of the closed-door meeting has no official response yet."

Regarding the above announcement, an industry insider in the autonomous driving sector told the "Daily Economic News" reporter: "This is an inevitable trend; safety must return to the top priority, and false and exaggerated advertising must be strictly regulated." The insider admitted that last year, the phenomenon of false advertising by car manufacturers and suppliers was quite serious, especially the so-called "promoting end-to-end driving as early as last year, even hands-free and eyes-free."

On April 17, Fu Bingfeng, Executive Vice President and Secretary-General of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, published an article proposing several thoughts on the healthy development of the intelligent connected vehicle industry. "As an automotive industry organization, we advocate further standardizing the safety management and marketing of combined driving assistance function products, promoting the formation of a healthy development ecosystem that emphasizes both 'technological progress and responsibility implementation,'" Fu Bingfeng stated.

In addition, the official public account of the Road Traffic Safety Research Center of the Ministry of Public Security, "Traffic Research Society," recently published an article titled "Smart Navigation, Safe Escort—Caution Required in Using Intelligent Connected Vehicle Assisted Driving Functions," mentioning recent traffic accidents caused by drivers incorrectly using assisted driving and revealing the reasons—some drivers have inadequate understanding of assisted driving, mistakenly believing that "assisted driving = automatic driving." The article pointed out that some drivers engage in dangerous behaviors such as playing with their phones, sleeping, chatting, and eating after activating the assisted driving function, which not only violates road traffic safety laws and regulations but also poses a serious threat to the safety of other road users.

According to Article 28 of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China, if car manufacturers fabricate or exaggerate assisted driving functions through advertisements or promotional materials (such as describing Level 2 assisted driving as "automatic driving"), misleading consumers into making purchases, market regulatory authorities may impose fines of 5-10 times the advertising costs for false advertising behavior Severe consequences for revocation of business licenses. If false advertising causes serious consequences (such as triggering traffic accidents resulting in injuries or fatalities), it may violate Article 222 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, which can result in imprisonment of less than 2 years or detention, and may also impose fines.

Automakers' Smart Driving Creative Marketing From "Full Zero Takeover" to "L2.9 Level Capability"

On March 1, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in conjunction with the State Administration for Market Regulation, released an interpretation of the "Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of Intelligent Connected Vehicle Product Access, Recall, and Software Online Upgrade" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), marking a new phase in China's intelligent vehicle regulatory system. According to reporters' observations, this policy interpretation focuses on the core requirements of the "Notice."

Image source: Official website of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China

The "Notice" strengthens management from three dimensions: first, it clarifies the primary responsibility of enterprises, requiring automakers to strictly follow the "Technical Guidelines for Access, Recall, and Software Online Upgrade of Intelligent Connected Vehicle Products," establishing a safety management system throughout the entire lifecycle of development, production, and operation, including system boundary definitions, safety response mechanisms, and control strategy verification; second, it introduces new technical parameter filing requirements, incorporating combined driving assistance systems and OTA upgrade information into the product access review by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, while simultaneously filing with the State Administration for Market Regulation; finally, it stipulates that automakers must submit complete inspection and testing reports when applying for access, ensuring the operability of defect tracing and recall management through a dual filing system.

Against the backdrop of tightening regulations, competition in the new energy vehicle industry has fully shifted to the intelligent track. Public data shows that the penetration rate of L2 and above autonomous driving in China's passenger cars is 55.7% in 2024, and Zhang Yongwei, vice chairman and secretary-general of the China Electric Vehicle 100 Forum, predicts that this figure may approach 65% by 2025.

In the context of rapid development of autonomous driving technology, automakers are launching marketing concepts such as "full scenario intelligent driving" and "zero takeover" to seize market share, even creating non-standardized terms like "L2.9+ level intelligent driving capability," attempting to create a market perception that L3 level autonomous driving technology has already been implemented. At the same time, automakers not only showcase intelligent driving technology at press conferences but also further shape consumer perceptions of autonomous driving technology through various communication methods such as live streaming. Among them, many CEOs and founders of automakers have also taken the lead in live streaming intelligent driving, using expressions like "get in and let the car drive itself, get out and let the car park itself" and "full zero takeover" to demonstrate the vehicle's intelligent driving capabilities.

However, this promotional approach has sparked controversy within the industry. Some industry insiders point out that the term "takeover" belongs to the definition category of L3 level autonomous driving, while L2 level still falls under the category of assisted driving Linking the term "takeover" with L2 level technology can easily mislead consumers about the actual capabilities of the technology, and may even lead consumers to overtrust the vehicle's autonomous driving capabilities, thereby ignoring safety risks during the driving process. It is understood that in response to this chaos, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology may regulate exaggerated descriptions such as "hands-free and eyes-free" and "full zero takeover" that do not conform to the current L2 level assisted intelligent driving, and prohibit their use.

Although there is controversy in the industry regarding promotional methods, market feedback has validated the effectiveness of the intelligent transformation. According to the J.D. Power report "2023 China New Car Purchase Intent Research (NVIS)," the impact weight of intelligent experience in car purchasing decisions has risen to 14%, becoming the third largest decision factor after vehicle quality and performance, on par with the weight of vehicle design, surpassing brand and price. Additionally, according to McKinsey's "2024 China Automotive Consumer Insights," as many as 76% of users believe that "highway NOA" is very necessary, 64% believe that "city NOA" is very necessary, and 77% believe that "automatic parking" is very necessary.

This shift forces car companies to accelerate technological iteration, but it also raises concerns in the industry about excessive promotion. How to balance technological innovation with user expectation management within a compliance framework has become a new topic following the implementation of the "Notice." From the announcement of this regulatory detail, it is clear that the main cause driving the environment towards "restlessness" is the increasingly fierce competition among car companies.

Image source: Sina Weibo (@Xiaomi Automobile)

"The regulatory authorities emphasize the importance of product access and software online upgrade management to ensure that car companies strictly adhere to safety regulations during the process of technology research and application. This will reduce traffic accidents caused by technical failures or security vulnerabilities, thereby enhancing public trust in intelligent connected vehicles," said Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, in an interview with reporters. The announcement requires car companies to clarify system function boundaries and safety response measures, which will promote the industry to establish more unified and stringent technical standards.

However, Jiang Han also pointed out that the announcement will have a certain impact on the compliance costs of car companies. To meet higher safety standards and regulatory requirements, car companies may need to increase their investments in technology research and development, testing and validation, and safety response mechanism construction, which will raise the operational costs of car companies, especially for small and medium-sized car companies that may face greater competitive pressure. However, in the long run, this will help eliminate backward production capacity and promote the industry towards higher quality and safer development.

The Development of Intelligent Driving Needs to be Healthy Car Companies Should Provide Users with Correct Understanding

In the face of the current situation of excessive marketing of intelligent driving by car companies, in an interview with reporters in February this year, Zhang Ning, Vice President of Xiaoma Zhixing and head of the Robotaxi business, pointed out: "Currently, the use of these terms (intelligent driving) is relatively casual, with limited constraints." He stated that intelligent driving is a broad concept, but what really needs to be distinguished is autonomous driving and assisted driving. Theoretically, driving functions below L3 level should not be referred to as autonomous driving It should be called assisted driving.

Zhang Ning believes that only starting from Level 3 will we truly enter the realm of autonomous driving, because the term "autonomous" itself represents a transfer of responsibility. Only from Level 3 does the system begin to take responsibility for driving behavior. By Level 4, it can be considered a true high-level autonomous driving, reaching the level of driverless operation.

Yu Qian, co-founder and CEO of Qingtian Zhihang, also stated at the 2025 China Electric Vehicle Hundred People Forum held at the end of March: "As intelligent driving technology rapidly becomes widespread, safety issues will become the lifeline of industry development." He pointed out that intelligent driving is currently in a critical transition period from high-speed NOA to urban NOA, and will continue to evolve towards Level 3 and Level 4 in the future. In this process of technological iteration, how to ensure safety after large-scale delivery is a challenge that the industry must face.

In fact, since many safety incidents occurred after the New Year, many car companies have become more cautious in their promotion of intelligent driving. For example, at the launch event for the second-generation Haval Xiaolong MAX on the evening of April 16, Great Wall emphasized that they still firmly believe in driver-led driving with intelligent driving as an aid under current driving conditions.

Image source: Reporter Liu Xi from Every Day

At the same time, Voyah CEO Lu Fang stated to reporters at the Level 3 intelligent architecture technology release conference that all current intelligent driving solutions are essentially assisted driving, and even the so-called Level 3 can only be referred to as assisted autonomous driving. It is only automated driving under limited conditions, not fully autonomous driving, and the responsibility is shared by manufacturers and drivers. Lu Fang pointed out that companies claiming to have Level 3 capabilities are more about promotional gimmicks. He believes that in terms of communication, just because a vehicle is equipped with multiple LiDARs or safety redundancies does not mean it can be defined as Level 3. Car companies should provide users with a correct understanding.

The reporter noted that this announcement particularly emphasizes that car companies must strictly fulfill their obligation to inform, ensuring that consumers have a correct understanding of intelligent driving functions. Jiang Han analyzed that car companies face two major challenges in fulfilling their obligation to inform: first, the asymmetry and complexity of information. Intelligent driving technology involves many professional terms and complex concepts, and how to convey this information to consumers in a clear and concise manner, allowing them to understand and correctly assess the risks and advantages of intelligent driving functions, is a significant challenge. Second, the rapid development of technology requires car companies to continuously update their informing content to reflect the latest technological advancements and safety requirements.

Jiang Han stated that car companies need to balance the contradiction between technological maturity and market demand while promoting technological innovation and ensuring consumer safety. On one hand, car companies need to continuously introduce new intelligent driving functions to meet market demand and maintain competitive advantages; on the other hand, new technologies need to be continuously verified and improved in practice to ensure their safety and reliability A person in the autonomous driving industry told reporters that in light of the recent tightening of regulations, they will continue to keep a close watch. However, for some companies participating in this year's Shanghai Auto Show that are labeled as "smart driving," significant adjustments may be necessary, as there are only a few days left until the exhibition.

Daily Economic News, original title: "Latest! The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology takes action on assisted driving: No exaggeration or false advertising! The Ministry of Public Security's Road Research Center: False advertising of autonomous driving may face a prison term of less than 2 years."

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