China opened comment on a standard for judging driving-automation simulation evidence
The intelligent-connected-vehicle subcommittee put out a guidance document that would make the vehicle manufacturer prove its simulation toolchain is credible before leaning on it for validation.
China’s automotive standards body opened a comment period on October 12 for a guidance technical document on assessing the credibility of simulation testing for driving automation systems. The intelligent connected vehicle subcommittee of SAC/TC 114 published the draft as part three of its simulation engineering series, under document number 2026-征求意见-023, with comments due by November 11. The project was proposed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and registered in April under plan number 20262002-Z-339.
The draft would be issued as a GB/Z guidance document rather than a mandatory or recommended national standard. Its stated framework pairs document inspection with evidence comparing simulation results against real-vehicle results, and it names the vehicle manufacturer as the party responsible for carrying out the assessment. Chapters cover credibility requirements, documentation and inspection activities; a normative annex maps system types to requirements, while an annex on validation methods was moved from normative to informative during drafting to reduce development cost.
The drafting explanation sets out why the subcommittee thinks the document is needed. Simulation environments now span model-, software-, hardware- and vehicle-in-the-loop testing, and the three-pillar test strategy used in Chinese and foreign regulation leaves the credibility of the toolchain itself unsettled. It names GB 39901-2025 on light-vehicle emergency braking, GB 47955-2026 on combined driving assistance and GB 44721-2026 on automated driving systems as standards that already demand simulation testing. Management of a simulation model would have to continue to the end of the system’s post-deployment phase, aligned with GB 44721-2026.
Twenty-nine organizations are named as drafters, led by CATARC and the Shanghai Motor Vehicle Inspection Certification body, and including Huawei’s automotive unit, BYD, Chery, Geely, Xiaomi Auto, GAC, SAIC Volkswagen, Great Wall and Foton.
Source: National Technical Committee of Auto Standardization, intelligent connected vehicle subcommittee