(Yicai Global) March 3 -- The chairman of SAIC Motor, China’s biggest automaker, will put forward a number of proposals at the country’s upcoming Two Sessions, including one to clarify the legal status of autonomous driving systems with the aim of speeding up the commercialization of smart vehicles, according to a media report.

Chen Hong, who is also a delegate to the National People’s Congress, will call for the responsibilities of human drivers and self-driving systems to be defined in road traffic law and a rating certification system and standards to be set out in regulations, The Paper reported yesterday.

The Two Sessions refers to the annual meetings of the NPC, China’s national legislature, and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body, whose members can make proposals which the government must respond to within six months. The fifth annual session of the 13th National Committee of the CPPCC will open in Beijing tomorrow, and the 13th NPC will open its fifth annual session the day after.

The Paper also said Chen will suggest further enhancing support for autonomous driving core technologies, including allocating special funds, encouraging companies to master the research and development of core software and hardware such as operating systems and chassis-by-wire, accelerating the formulation of industry standards, and achieving product technology scale as soon as possible.

With regards to the chip shortage that has been affecting the auto industry since the outbreak of Covid-19, the report said Chen proposes to set up special funds to encourage chipmakers and carmakers to participate in the R&D, production, and application of China-made semiconductors, as demand will continue growing with the accelerated development of smart vehicles.

Chen will also put forward a series of suggestions for the development of new energy vehicles, The Paper said. They include speeding up the formulation and implementation of carbon emission standards in the entire life cycle of cars, integrating lithium and cobalt resources in the upstream segment, and increasing the support for NEV users, such as further improving charging facilities and providing discounts on charging fees.

Shanghai-based SAIC is China’s largest automaker by production and sales. It sold 5.5 million vehicles last year, down 2.5 percent from 2020, according to its own data. The firm’s NEV sales soared almost 130 percent to 733,000 in the period.

Editor: Futura Costaglione