(Yicai) Sept. 18 -- China has issued a draft version of mandatory national standards for safety requirements of connected driver assistance systems, or Level 2 systems, and opened it to public comment.

The new standards stipulate that CDAS are not autonomous driving systems due to drivers needing to be continuously engaged, according to the draft released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology yesterday, which aims to solicit feedback against the backdrop of growing public concern over the safety capabilities of Level 2 systems.

The draft is mostly consistent with the United Nation’s regulation on DCAS, with some adjustments according to China's road and traffic environment and system safety. For example, it requires confirmation whether the driver has completed training on using smart assistance systems after each start of the auto.

The new standards systematically stipulate the safety design, functional requirements, and testing methods of CDAS, providing a clear basis for companies' research and development and product certification, while fundamentally curbing excessive marketing and exaggerated promotions, Ji Xuehong, director of North China University of Technology's research center on auto industry innovation, told Yicai.

There are also new requirements for vehicle-end data recording, including recording, elements, storage, and reading, for CDAS to ensure the true and accurate recording of key data during vehicle operation and support the investigation and analysis of possible accidents.

In addition, the draft requires that CDAS can only perform dynamic driving tasks when the driver is engaged in the task. When the driver's hands or line of sight deviates, the system will activate a graded alarm and disable itself for at least 30 minutes if the warning is ineffective. The system is also prohibited from taking over the steering wheel when the driver's hands are off it.

Dynamic driving tasks are real-time operations during driving, including steering, accelerating, monitoring the environment, and responding to objects.

In March, the driver and two passengers died in a crash due to the driver of the Xiaomi SU7 they were in violating the operation of the vehicle's assistance system, raising public doubts about the exaggerated advertisement and safety of assisted driving.

China's new passenger vehicles equipped with CDAS sales reached almost 7.76 million units in the six months ended July 31, up 21 percent from a year earlier, with the penetration rate rising to 63 percent.

Editor: Martin Kadiev