Germany and China sign Memorandum of Understanding on dialogue and cooperation in the field of automated and connected driving

The Federal Minister for Digital and Transport, Dr Volker Wissing, the Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Dr Franziska Brantner, and the Chinese Minister for Industry and Information Technology, Jin Zhuanglong, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding on dialogue and cooperation in the field of automated and connected driving between the Federal Republic of Germany and the People’s Republic of China.

Federal Minister Dr Volker Wissing said: “Autonomous and connected driving is associated with the hope of safer and more efficient mobility in the future. We are currently in a crucial phase of development in which the aim is to get the technology out of the lab and onto the road. The key to achieving this is a level playing field. Common standards are important and useful here and our MOU will serve to facilitate their development.

Parliamentary State Secretary Dr Franziska Brantner said: “Automated and connected driving will play a central role in the mobility of the future and open up new business models for the automotive industry. At the same time, we are aware of the challenging business environment in China, especially the increasingly restrictive data legislation, which in some cases imposes strict limits on cross-border data transfer in particular. This is where our MOU will come in and not only contribute to advancing international standardisation and fair competition in this area, but also serve to allow concrete progress to be made on the topic of reciprocal data transfer – while respecting national and EU data legislation. We will work to achieve tangible results in this area.

Automated and connected driving has the potential to profoundly change the future of mobility. Germany and China want to take this topic forward quickly by improving the framework conditions. The declaration signed today continues the dialogue that Germany and China began back in 2018.

For example, the declaration deals with standards and rules that are coordinated at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO). We welcome China’s constructive involvement in this process. Global standards help improve road safety, cross-border traffic and trade in passenger cars.

However, the declaration also forms a basis for discussing topics on which there is no consensus. One topic of our exchange will be the cross-border transfer of data from China to Germany, for example, which is important for automated and connected driving. Germany will work to achieve tangible improvements for German and EU companies in this area.”