MIIT requires OTA filing management, auto companies can no longer act arbitrarily.

On April 15th, 2022, the Equipment Industry Development Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) issued the “Notice on Conducting Online Record-filing for Automotive Software Upgrades” to strengthen the management of Over-The-Air (OTA) upgrades by automotive companies, and implement hierarchical record-filing.

  • For upgrade activities that do not involve changes in technical performance related to product safety, environmental protection, energy conservation, anti-theft and other aspects, companies can carry out upgrades directly after the record-filing.

  • For upgrade activities that involve changes in technical performance related to product safety, environmental protection, energy conservation, anti-theft and other aspects, relevant supporting documents must be submitted to confirm that the product meets the requirements of national laws and regulations, technical standards and technical specifications. For upgrades that involve changes to the technical parameters specified in the “Notice”, an application for modification or extension of the “Notice” must be submitted before record-filing. The upgrade can only be carried out after completing the product admission process specified in the “Notice”.

  • Upgrade activities related to automotive automated driving functions require the approval of the MIIT.

Software upgrade is an important means for automotive production companies to improve product functionality and optimize product performance. Due to the constraints of electronic and electrical architectures and network communication capabilities, traditional cars generally adopt offline upgrade methods.

In recent years, with the rapid development of automotive product intelligence and networked technology, the form of automotive products has undergone major changes. OTA upgrades have gradually been widely used in intelligent networked automotive products. Compared with offline upgrades, OTA upgrades can more quickly iterate product functions, optimize product performance, and improve user experience, becoming an important means for automotive production companies to enhance product competitiveness.

However, some OTA upgrades may also change vehicle product functionality and performance, bringing risks to vehicle safety and even threatening public safety. This notice requires implementing OTA upgrade record-filing management, which will help solve the chaos in the industry.

Finally, we welcome everyone to download the 42 How Garage App to learn about the latest news on new energy. If you want to have more timely communication, you can click here to join our community.

🔗Source: Equipment Industry Development Center of MIIT

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.