On 5 Jan. 2018, a circular was impressively released in the “Government Affairs Service Center” column of the official website of National Development & Reform Commission of the People’s Republic of China (“NDRC” for short) – Circular on Soliciting Public Opinion on the Strategy for Innovation & Development of Intelligent Vehicles (Draft for Comments).

The original text of the circular is shown below:

Circular on Soliciting Public Opinion on the Strategy for Innovation & Development of Intelligent Vehicles (Draft for Comments) (Ongoing)

To effectively implement the important instructions of central leaders, quicken up the innovation & development pace of China’s intelligent vehicle industry, as well as enhance the top-level design and strategic planning, the National Development & Reform Committee has drafted the Strategy for Innovation & Development of Intelligent Vehicles upon discussion. On the basis that comments and suggestions have been extensively solicited from relevant departments, local governments, key enterprises, industrial associations, key universities and scientific research institutes, etc., we now would like to solicit public opinion from all social circles.

The period for public opinion solicitation is 5 Jan. to 20 Jan. 2018. Please visit the special “Opinion Solicitation” Column (www.ndrc.gov.cn/yjzq/) on the home page of the NDRC website, and offer your comments and suggestions on the Strategy for Innovation & Development of Intelligent Vehicles by fax: 010-68501571 or email: jxzbc_cys@ndrc.gov.cn.

Thanks for you participation and support!

Appendix: Strategy for Innovation & Development of Intelligent Vehicles (Draft for Comments)

Department of Industrial Coordination, NDRC

5 Jan. 2018

To promote the innovation and development of China’s intelligent vehicle industry, and enhance top-level design and strategic planning, for some time, NDRC has been assembling multiple scientific research institutes and associated enterprises to make planning and overall arrangement for the innovation and development of the intelligent vehicle industry.

On 25 Oct. 2017, Nian Yong, Director of the Department of Industrial Coordination, NDRC, presided over the “Opinion Solicitation Meeting about the Proposals for the Establishment of the National Intelligent Vehicle Innovation & Development Platform”, with participants from Tsinghua University, SDIC Group, CNIGC, SAIC Group, BAIC Group, China Mobile, China Unicom, Huawei Technologies, ZTE Communications, Baidu, Didi and Shanghai PATEO, etc.

On 5 Jan. 2018, the Strategy for Innovation & Development of Intelligent Vehicles (Draft for Comments) was released to all sectors of the society to solicit opinion with a deadline of Jan. 20, signifying that the “Strategy for Innovation & Development of Intelligent Vehicles” had ascended to the state level; as a top-level design, it has clearly defined the goals and directions of the future development of China’s automotive industry

The Strategy for Innovation & Development of Intelligent Vehicles (Draft for Comments) points out that intelligent vehicles have become the strategic orientation for the development of the automotive industry, their development is of great strategic significance to China, and China possesses the strategic advantages in this regard.

The Strategy for Innovation & Development of Intelligent Vehicles (Draft for Comments) has set the goals for the development of China’s intelligent vehicle industry:

By 2020 – A systematic framework for China standard intelligent vehicles will be in place for technology innovation, industrial eco-system, road network facilities, regulatory standards, product regulation and information security. By this time, intelligent vehicles will account for 50% of new cars in China; commercialization of middle and high level intelligent vehicles will have been achieved; and demonstrative operation in key regions will have achieved fruitful results.

By 2025 – The system for China standard intelligent vehicles will fully take shape with respect to technology innovation, industrial eco-system, road network facilities, regulatory standards, product regulation and information security; almost 100% of new vehicles will be intelligent vehicles; scalable high level intelligent vehicles will be on the market.

By 2035 – China standard intelligent vehicles will earn its global reputation and China will be the first to become a powerhouse of intelligent vehicles where all people will share an intelligent vehicle society featured by “safety, efficiency, green and civilization”.

If the aforesaid series of goals can be accomplished as expected, it is hopeful for the Chinese automotive industry to gain worldwide leadership in the AI era.

To realize the above-mentioned goals, the Strategy for Innovation & Development of Intelligent Vehicles (Draft for Comments) proposed a strategic guarantee – China will set up a “Leading Group for National Intelligent Vehicle Innovation & Development”, with an official from the State Council acting as the Group Leader, and the principals of the related State Council departments and organizations acting as team members. The Group will take charge of the overall planning and coordination for the development of intelligent vehicles as a whole, to review major planning, major policies and major projects, as well as work out solutions for major issues. The National Intelligent Vehicle Innovation & Development Platform will be built under the guidance of the Leading Group, to ensure the major tasks defined by the national strategies will be carried out and implemented.

The Innovation Platform will be comprised of the Board of Governance, the Committee of Experts and the Platform Companies, among which, the Board of Governance is the decision-making body, the Committee of Experts is an advisory body, and the Platform Companies will be made up of the leading enterprises in the fields of automotive manufacturing, information & communications, internet, infrastructure and financial investment.

The core tasks of the Innovation Platform include the implementation of the strategic tasks like establishing the intelligent vehicle technological innovation system, industrial ecosystem, road network facility system, regulatory standard system, product regulation system, information security system and more.

At the same time, the supporting policy packages will be introduced successively. Related policy incentives include: drawing on the fund invested by leading manufacturing industries to support the construction and demonstrative application of the major intelligent vehicle projects; offering corporate income tax relief to intelligent vehicle manufactures; providing preferential fiscal policy support for the SMEs in the intelligent vehicle field.

In particular, the Strategy for Innovation & Development of Intelligent Vehicles (Draft for Comments) points out that, with regard to the optimization of the intelligent vehicle development environment, emphasis will be laid on strengthening the popularization and publicity of intelligent vehicles, encouraging enterprises to organize test drive/ride experience events, as well as supporting various news media to enhance the publicity of the efficient, energy-saving, safe and eco-friendly features of intelligent vehicles for social awareness enhancement.

This represents the one and only case in the Chinese industrial development history, especially the development history of the Chinese automotive industry, that a Development Leading Group of such a high profile is formed for a specific project. The Group will take charge of the overall planning and coordination for the development of intelligent vehicles as a whole.

The efforts that China has devoted to the development planning of the intelligent vehicle industry are even more remarkable than those formerly spent on the NEV industry. The two forceful attempts of NEV + IV are aimed to facilitate the Chinese automotive industry to gain global dominance.

The Strategy for Innovation & Development of Intelligent Vehicles (Draft for Comments) points out that the development of the intelligent vehicle industry has overarching and far-reaching significance; it is “now or never”, and the clock is ticking. Each department needs to strengthen support for the innovation and development of intelligent vehicles, while each region needs to develop effective measures for boosting intelligent vehicle innovation & development based on the actualities, so as to guarantee the effective implementation of the various strategic tasks.