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A delegate to China’s National People’s Congress has called for the establishment of national standards for intelligent driving data and the creation of a shared platform to serve as essential infrastructure. This effort aims to support the high-quality growth of new energy vehicle insurance.
“Advancements in smart driving technologies have made vehicle operation data central to accident analysis, risk assessment, and claims processing,” said Zhou Yanfang, who also leads the Strategy Research Center ESG Office at a major insurance company. She spoke during the opening session of the annual NPC meeting.
She emphasized that financial regulators should take the initiative in developing safety standards for smart driving in collaboration with industry stakeholders. Additionally, a nationwide platform should be built to facilitate data exchange between automakers, insurers, and testing agencies. Breaking down information silos will enable a trustworthy data ecosystem that encompasses the entire vehicle lifecycle.
Zhou also pointed out the need to update laws and regulations like the Road Traffic Safety Law and Insurance Law to keep pace with technological progress in autonomous driving. She noted that current legal provisions related to traffic accident liability are insufficient; without clear standards for liability in various scenarios, it’s challenging to assign blame between humans and machines.
She recommended clarifying the responsible parties for accidents involving Level 3 and higher autonomous driving modes, forming a liability-sharing framework that aligns with human-machine co-driving. Additionally, she proposed expanding insurance coverage to include drivers affected by system failures in autonomous vehicles, along with revising third-party liability insurance rules for better applicability.
Furthermore, Zhou urged efforts to speed up the development of technical standards for maintaining the “three-electric” systems—batteries, motors, and electronic controls—as well as damage assessment procedures and environmentally friendly recycling guidelines for used parts. Establishing unified standards and pricing models could help reduce disputes during claims and improve transparency and efficiency.
Zhou also called for innovative insurance products tailored to electric vehicles, including new pricing strategies that reflect their unique risk profiles. For example, insurance offerings that incorporate features like intelligent driving, battery swapping, and vehicle-battery separation should be promoted promptly.
“Compared to traditional fuel vehicles, new energy vehicles introduce new risks, liable parties, and coverage boundaries—posing fresh challenges for insurance product development, business model innovation, and risk management,” she explained.
The main difficulties stem from conventional insurance systems struggling to adapt to the distinct risk characteristics of NEVs, coupled with gaps in legal and insurance frameworks amid the rising adoption of autonomous driving.
By the end of last year, China’s NEV fleet exceeded 44 million units, accounting for about 12% of all vehicles, according to the Ministry of Public Security. Nearly 13 million new NEVs were registered in 2025, making up almost half of all new vehicle registrations.
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