In recent years, the new energy vehicle industry has seen explosive growth fueled by policy support and market demand, with assisted driving and power battery technology emerging as key competitive areas. However, this rapid technological advancement has been accompanied by frequent accidents and controversies. Recent disputes over severe accidents involving 'assisted driving' functions have eroded consumer trust in new technologies, while incidents of power battery fires have reignited public safety concerns.

On the evening of April 16, the First Department of Equipment Industry of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued an announcement on its official website titled "The First Department of Equipment Industry Convenes a Meeting to Promote the Product Access and Software Online Upgrade Management of Intelligent Connected Vehicles" (hereinafter referred to as the "Announcement"). The announcement emphasizes that automakers must clarify system functional boundaries and safety response measures, prohibit exaggerated and false advertising, strictly fulfill the obligation to inform, assume primary responsibility for production consistency and quality safety, and enhance the safety of intelligent connected vehicle products.

On April 17, news on the MIIT's official website revealed the official announcement of the mandatory national standard GB 38031-2025 "Safety Requirements for Power Batteries for Electric Vehicles." In terms of technical requirements, the thermal propagation test was revised from "providing a thermal event alarm signal 5 minutes before ignition or explosion" to "no ignition, no explosion (alarm still required), and smoke does not cause harm to occupants."

The "Announcement" and the new national standard directly address two major industry pain points: marketing chaos and technological shortcomings. They aim to reshape industry order through enhanced supervision, bringing an end to the era of 'wild growth' where taking risks was the norm.

▍From 'Rhetorical Frenzy' to 'Responsibility Boundaries'

Since the beginning of 2025, over 20 mainstream automakers in China have successively announced their strategic plans and technical routes for the new generation of assisted driving. China Everbright Securities predicts that the penetration rate of L2+ urban assisted driving in China is expected to reach nearly 10% by 2025, with rapid growth anticipated from 2026 onwards. The promotion of products priced between 100,000 and 200,000 yuan may become key to achieving volume breakthroughs. While the internationally used SAE standard clearly defines L2 as 'Combined Driving Assistance,' some automakers intentionally blur these boundaries in marketing, potentially leading to consumer misunderstandings and misjudgments about system capabilities.

In February 2025, MIIT and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued the "Notice on Further Strengthening the Access, Recall, and Software Online Upgrade Management of Intelligent Connected Vehicle Products" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), which systematically regulated access and promotion guidelines for the first time.

Notably, after the MIIT announcement, a document suspected to be the meeting minutes circulated online, focusing on three aspects: tightening the promotion of intelligent driving capabilities, regulating the use of these capabilities, and strictly managing the deployment and risks of intelligent driving functions. Automobiles are not allowed to be publicly tested, and announcements must be made for groups of one thousand and ten thousand people. Clear and sufficient verification is required, and users cannot be used for testing. The L2 standard will consider and stipulate equivalent conditions, and L2 cannot use terms like 'takeover'.

The minutes also emphasize standardizing promotions, avoiding exaggerated claims, and refraining from using terms such as automatic, autonomous, intelligent driving, and advanced intelligent driving. The expression 'combined assisted driving' is also mentioned. Applications that only fill in parameters without submitting verification materials will be rejected, frequent OTA updates will be reduced, and automakers must properly manage version risks and verify them sufficiently before deployment. Companies with frequent OTA updates will be subject to key scrutiny. Emergency OTA updates require recall, production suspension, and approval from the State Administration for Market Regulation before proceeding.

The policy further proposes technically prohibiting drivers from disengaging, such as using face ID recognition for combined assisted driving to prevent seat adjustment and reclining.

In addition, automakers are required to establish a full lifecycle data monitoring system to ensure accident traceability and face a 'lifetime ban' penalty for falsifying data. These new regulations force automakers to shift from 'marketing-driven' to 'technically pragmatic' approaches.

Although some companies have told the media that there is no official response to the content of the closed-door meeting, insiders believe it is an inevitable trend. The official public account of the Road Traffic Safety Research Center of the Ministry of Public Security recently posted an article discussing recent traffic accidents caused by drivers' misuse of assisted driving and revealing the reasons behind them. Some drivers have an inadequate understanding of assisted driving, mistakenly believing that 'assisted driving equals autonomous driving.' The article points 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.

▍From 'Probability Safety' to 'Zero Tolerance'

Power battery safety is another critical aspect of new energy vehicles. The previous industry standard GB 38031-2020 only required that there be no fire within 5 minutes after thermal runaway, providing 'escape time' for occupants. In April of this year, MIIT issued the new national standard GB 38031-2025, upgrading 'no fire, no explosion' to a mandatory requirement.

The rigor of the new national standard is evident in three dimensions: first, extending the thermal runaway observation period to 2 hours and requiring that the temperature at all monitoring points does not exceed 60℃, forcing companies to adopt multiple layers of protection such as cell flame retardant, module thermal insulation, and system-level intelligent monitoring; second, adding a bottom impact test to simulate vehicle bottoming scenarios, requiring the battery pack to withstand the impact of a 30mm diameter steel ball with 150 joules of energy without leakage or open flame; third, addressing the risks of fast charging technology, requiring the battery to pass the external short circuit test after 300 fast charging cycles, directly addressing the industry pain point of internal short circuits caused by lithium dendrite growth.

These tests are called 'torture experiments' by insiders to more realistically simulate short-circuit scenarios. Experts believe that the new standard will rewrite the rules of competition in the industry. Leading companies will quickly respond with their technological reserves, while small and medium-sized manufacturers may face an existential crisis. The cost of compliant transformation of battery systems increases by 15%-20%, and some low-end models may be withdrawn from the market due to the difficulty in sharing costs, with 30% of capacity expected to be phased out by 2027. The technological route will also be adjusted accordingly: lithium iron phosphate batteries are expected to increase their market share to 80% due to their thermal stability advantages, ternary lithium batteries will retreat to the high-end market, and solid-state batteries will become the future breakthrough direction due to their non-flammable electrolyte.

MIIT's dual policies appear to target specific technical issues but actually reflect a profound transformation in the new energy vehicle industry: a shift from 'speed priority' to 'safety first.' Policies no longer tolerate 'technological trial and error' compromising public safety but instead force companies to uphold safety thresholds through rigid standards. An insider who follows the development of the new energy vehicle industry admitted that for some companies labeled as 'intelligent driving' participating in this year's Shanghai Auto Show, significant adjustments may be required, especially as the auto show is only a few days away. Power battery safety is also a global battle, spanning from materials to the entire vehicle.

Typesetting 丨 Yang Shuo Image Source: Shutterstock, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology