China's top industry regulator proposed on Thursday to step up building the regulatory system for high-level autonomous driving as well as related data security standards amid accelerated self-driving momentum both at home and abroad.

The move comes at a time when the global autonomous driving industry is hitting the top gear. United States electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc unveiled its robotaxi earlier this month while Chinese automakers and tech firms have announced different progresses on autonomous driving.

Jin Zhuanglong, minister of industry and information technology, said that the country will step up making standards and regulations and building a comprehensive regulatory system for high-level autonomous driving.

Efforts will also be made to accelerate the formulation of standards on functional safety, network security, and data security, of high-level autonomous driving, said Jin at the 2024 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference that kicked off in Beijing on Thursday.

He disclosed that the ministry will draft a development plan for the intelligent connected vehicle industry. The plan aims to drive a coordinated development path of vehicle-road integration and software-hardware collaboration and expedite the building of a strong automotive nation.

Jin emphasized: "The ministry will also strengthen integrated innovation, support joint research in the automotive, electronics, and software sectors, and encourage the co-construction of platforms for data sharing and model training in autonomous driving."

More efforts will be made to expand application scenarios, deepen the pilot projects of vehicle-road-cloud integration while increasing the installation ratio of in-vehicle connected terminals, he said.

"China will also deepen its openness and cooperation, actively integrating into the global industrial system, enhancing global cooperation on standards and regulations, and creating a favorable environment for the globalization of the industry," he added.