2026 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Congress Opens in Beijing; MIIT Pledges to Expand ICV Scenario Rollout

The 2026 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Congress (WICV) opened in Beijing on October 21, co-hosted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the Ministry of Transport and the Beijing municipal government under the theme "Gathering Wisdom, Connecting Unlimited - Steadily Toward an Autonomous-Driving Era." MIIT Vice Minister Xin Guobin said China will deepen cross-sector collaboration, prudently expand scenario applications, and push forward pilot programs for connected-vehicle access and road operation, while accelerating large-scale demonstration of key autonomous-driving scenarios and implementing the "vehicle-road-cloud integration" pilot. He added that China will implement the 15th Five-Year Plan for intelligent connected new-energy vehicles and take part in setting international trade rules. Industry data shared at the conference showed that by the end of August about 61 million passenger cars in China were equipped with combined driving-assistance functions, of which about 15 million had navigated driving-assistance (NOA) capability, underscoring how fast assisted driving is moving from premium models into the mainstream.

Source: Xinhua Daily Telegraph / Securities Times / Guangming Daily, Oct 22, 2026 | 2026-10-22