A major policy milestone has been reached in the autonomous driving sector. On August 4, 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially released the "Safety Requirements for Intelligent Connected Vehicle Autonomous Driving Systems," China's first mandatory national standard for L3 (conditional automation) and L4 (high automation) driving levels. This regulation is scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2027, and applies to M and N class vehicles equipped with these systems.

The standard clearly defines technical specifications, operational capability boundaries, and enterprise lifecycle safety assurance mechanisms for L3/L4. It is also supported by three types of confirmation tests: field, road, and simulation. This marks a critical step in the transition of autonomous driving from "pilot demonstrations" to "access management." Following the approval of a United Nations global technical regulation for autonomous driving systems, led by China in June, and the July 2 release of the L2-level combined driver assistance mandatory standard, the August 4 publication of the L3/L4 standard completes the formation of a comprehensive "L2 to L3/L4" mandatory testing framework in China. Regulation has shifted from proving that the vehicle can operate to proving it is safe, systematically removing institutional barriers for L3 mass production and large-scale Robotaxi deployment. This positions the intelligent driving sector for a potential re-rating.

In response to these favorable policy signals, market capital has reacted positively. According to Wind and exchange data, trading activity for the Huatai-PineBridge Intelligent Driving ETF (516520) has warmed up significantly. Over the past week, it has seen three consecutive days of net inflows totaling nearly 90 million yuan. Yesterday's single-day turnover exceeded 84 million yuan, a 127% increase compared to the previous trading day. This active capital deployment has pushed the fund's total assets and share count to 939 million yuan and 862 million units, respectively, representing year-to-date growth of 46% and 72%.

A recent research report from Guosheng Securities notes that valuations in the intelligent driving industry are at historically low levels, highlighting potential allocation value. Calculations suggest that the market size for China's L2/L3 intelligent driving solutions could expand from approximately $10.4 billion in 2025 to around $38.6 billion by 2030. Meanwhile, the domestic Robotaxi market is projected to grow from about $100 million in 2025 to roughly $38.1 billion by 2030, achieving a penetration rate of approximately 11.9%. In closed scenarios like mining areas and ports, L4 commercial vehicles have already been the first to achieve positive gross margins. After the sector's correction from June to July, the majority of intelligent driving chain stocks have fallen back to levels seen before the "924" rally in 2024, placing them at a low ebb and making their mid-term allocation value increasingly apparent.

The Huatai-PineBridge Intelligent Driving ETF (516520) closely tracks the CSI Intelligent Vehicle Theme Index. This index includes companies that provide terminal perception and platform applications for smart vehicles, as well as other representative companies that benefit from the smart car ecosystem. Its top five Shenwan secondary industries are auto parts (21.5%), semiconductors (19.7%), passenger cars (15.8%), software development (11.6%), and consumer electronics (7.4%), covering multiple segments of the smart vehicle industry chain. Huatai-PineBridge Fund is among China's first batch of ETF managers, with over 19 years of experience in index investing. It offers investors transparent, easy-to-trade, and low-cost index tools like the CSI 300 ETF Huatai-PineBridge (510300) and the A500 ETF Huatai-PineBridge (563360). As of the end of June 2026, the company's ETFs generated over 180.6 billion yuan in profits for holders over the past two years, making it one of only three mutual fund companies in the entire A-share market to achieve cumulative profits exceeding 160 billion yuan during that period.