Five departments launched a pilot project for the supervision of the automotive safety sandbox

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Recently, the Five Departments of the State Administration of Market Regulation, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Emergency Response and the General Administration of Customs jointly issued the Notice on the Trial Implementation of the Automotive Safety Sandbox Supervision System (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice") to jointly launch the pilot work of automotive safety sandbox supervision. Industry insiders said that the supervision of traditional fuel vehicles has been difficult to fully supervise new energy vehicles, and it is necessary to adopt this new means. However, in practice, how to achieve effective supervision of user vehicle data and privacy protection will also usher in a challenge.

The new energy automobile industry has entered the fast lane

The outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan proposes to "focus on strategic emerging industries such as new energy vehicles and accelerate the innovative application of key core technologies." The "New Energy Automobile Industry Development Plan (2021-2035)" also pointed out that "it is necessary to adhere to the development direction of electrification, networking and intelligence, promote the high-quality and sustainable development of the mainland new energy automobile industry, and accelerate the construction of an automobile power".

At present, the mainland new energy automobile industry has entered the fast lane of development, and the integration of electrification, intelligence, networking and sharing has injected new momentum into economic growth while also deriving new security issues such as software security, network security, and industrial supply chain security. New risks and quality uncertainties have created enormous challenges for automotive safety regulation. Wang Yunpeng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and vice president of Beihang University, said in an interview with the media that the current mainland supervision model for automobiles is mainly based on traditional supervision methods, and it is difficult to cope with the new challenges brought about by the rapid development of new automotive technologies, and it is urgent to introduce a forward-looking supervision model, change passive supervision into active supervision, and include the safety problems that may be caused by cutting-edge technologies earlier into the scope of supervision.

Introduce sandbox regulation to fill the regulatory gap

The so-called sandbox supervision refers to delineating the corresponding scope, adopting inclusive and prudent regulatory measures for enterprises or objects in the "box", implementing fault tolerance and correction in the controllable "box", and eliminating the spread of problems. Sandbox supervision as a useful supplement to the traditional supervision method, is a flexible regulatory system for technological innovation, in fact, to provide enterprises with a test platform and test cycle, on the basis of not violating the principle of access standards and regulatory bottom line, encourage enterprises to fully grasp the product risks, voluntarily carry out further testing, to maximize the prevention of product application risks. At the same time, we will improve the real-time and flexibility of regulatory response to risks, prevent excessive supervision from inhibiting scientific and technological innovation, better balance technological innovation and safety risks, actively advocate best safety practices, and provide new regulatory ideas for promoting the prosperity, health, safe and orderly development of the mainland automobile industry.

According to reports, the sandbox regulatory system originated in the United Kingdom, and more than 20 countries and regions such as the United States, Germany, and Japan are actively promoting the implementation of finance, automobiles, energy and other fields. The regulatory authorities believe that the introduction of sandbox supervision in the field of automotive safety in the mainland encourages enterprises to conduct in-depth safety tests on cutting-edge technologies that have been applied to listed vehicles within a certain time frame, and to a certain extent, fills the regulatory gap caused by lagging standards, which is conducive to the regulatory authorities to incorporate the quality and safety issues caused by cutting-edge technologies into the scope of supervision earlier and better protect the bottom line of product safety.

Strengthen safety supervision of cutting-edge technologies

The Circular shows that automotive safety sandbox regulation is a mechanism for in-depth safety testing of cutting-edge technologies for vehicle applications in the aftermarket phase. The object of sandbox supervision is the use of cutting-edge technologies such as environmental perception, intelligent decision-making, and collaborative control in vehicles, or the realization of new functions and new models such as autonomous driving at all levels and remote upgrades. That is to say, sandbox supervision strengthens the safety supervision of cutting-edge technologies applied to listed vehicles.

According to the "Circular", enterprises applying for sandbox supervision of cutting-edge technologies or new functions and new models need to go through five stages, such as application, evaluation, testing, reporting, and withdrawal. The enterprise test period is generally not more than 24 months. Enterprises complete vehicle in-depth testing, reach the expected target, and automatically withdraw from sandbox supervision. During the sandbox supervision period, if an enterprise submits an application for withdrawal, it is required to submit a statement of the situation.

The "Circular" also specifically pointed out that during the test period, after the enterprise learns of the collision, fire, remote control, assisted driving failure and other accidents in the Chinese market of the same type and batch of vehicles as the test, it should carry out investigation and analysis in accordance with the "Regulations on the Administration of the Recall of Defective Automobile Products" and other provisions, and report the results of the investigation to the State Administration for Market Supervision within 48 hours.

Industry reaction

Automotive safety sandbox supervision also faces data security problems

For this method of promoting the supervision of new energy vehicles, industry insiders affirmed its positive significance, believing that the inherent characteristics of new energy vehicles and the use of traditional vehicle supervision methods are no longer appropriate.

Wu Yaoquan, director of operations of Guangdong Dingche New Energy Automobile Industry Co., Ltd., said that the state's adoption of this new regulatory model will be conducive to the supervision of new energy vehicles. It is a powerful monitoring for car companies, and it is also an effective guarantee for car owners. The emergence of this method is indeed good news. Wang Xudong, head of Guangdong CRRC Motor Vehicle Inspection Technology Co., Ltd., also holds a similar view. He believes that this kind of auto safety sandbox supervision model is an act that benefits the people, car companies, industries and countries, and also enables the mainland to create a good policy environment for the "diversion and overtaking" model of new energy car + Internet car manufacturing.

However, in their view, the supervision of the automotive safety sandbox also faces data security problems to be solved. Wu Yaoquan pointed out that in actual operation, there will be some refinement problems to be solved. For example, the way the data is extracted will be in the hands of whom and where can the data be obtained. If these data are uniformly strictly supervised by the national government departments, they can play their due role. At the same time, whether car companies can control these data is a problem. If they can control it, is there a possibility that user information will be leaked? This involves whether the data privacy security of vehicle users can be effectively protected. During the use of the vehicle, can the authorized dealers, service stations and third-party car maintenance companies of the car brand where the vehicle is located get these data and the operation trajectory of the vehicle? If the answer is yes, there is no doubt that this may also infringe on the privacy and security of users. If they can't get it, they face difficulties in detecting the condition of the car, which will have an impact on the maintenance effect. In the final analysis, this kind of technical monitoring, whether the customer's stability and privacy can be guaranteed, is a very realistic problem. At the same time, whether there is also such supervision in imported car companies requires the relevant departments to treat them equally, rather than discriminate, and there are different regulatory standards.

Wang Xudong also believes that the supervision of automotive safety sandboxes is facing some new problems. The first is information security and driving safety. If our mobile phone information is collected, at most, the personal privacy and sensitive information part is leaked, resulting in shutdown and even loss of money. However, the driving system is invaded, and the greater hidden danger is the life safety of the driver and passenger, the life safety of the social personnel on the periphery of the vehicle driving environment, and even the safety of the social environment. Therefore, we only allow the collection of vehicle dynamic and static information in a downward direction, and cannot reverse control the static and dynamic of the vehicle. It also involves the security of the sandbox system itself, how to prevent hackers from invading and counter-terrorizing vehicles. For testing and appraisal institutions, they are now facing some problems. Many of the existing testing and appraisal institutions in the market rely on the inspector's personal experience in the maintenance industry to detect the working conditions of the vehicle, which in addition to the moral hazard, there is also a risk brought about by experience differentiation. Therefore, how to continuously improve the technical content of testing technology equipment and tools, continuously standardize the testing process, and constantly face new automobile manufacturing technology and system management mode is also a problem facing the testing and appraisal institutions at present.

Some insiders also pointed out that it is only the pilot work of sandbox supervision that has been launched, and the specific implementation measures of the sandbox supervision system are still in the research stage. Therefore, the relevant implementation rules need to be further explored by the expert group in coordination with enterprises. For example, there is no answer to whether consumers can participate in real-world use case tests and which pilot companies will be the first participants.

Written by: Nandu reporter Liang Luozhe