China: Mandatory Physical Buttons and MRM Maneuvers
In mid-February 2026, China's automotive market regulator – the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) – announced the introduction of a package of new technical standards redefining the approach to safety in Intelligent Connected Vehicles (ICV). These documents, officially published on February 15, 2026, on the government portal miit.gov.cn, constitute a direct response by the state administration to a series of incidents that revealed loopholes in existing homologation procedures. An analysis of the content of the new guidelines, conducted based on reports from the Xinhua agency and industry portals Automotive News China and CnEVPost, indicates a departure from the uncritical digitalization of cockpits in favor of hybrid solutions that guarantee physical safety.