This year's government work report proposed cultivating and strengthening emerging and future industries. It called for implementing industrial innovation projects, encouraging state-owned enterprises to take the lead in opening application scenarios, and building emerging pillar industries such as integrated circuits, aerospace, biopharmaceuticals, and the unmanned aircraft economy. The report also outlined establishing growth investment and risk-sharing mechanisms for future industries, fostering developments in future energy, quantum technology, embodied AI, brain-computer interfaces, and 6G.
From the emergence of new intelligent economic forms to innovative mechanisms for future industry investment; from debating AI safety and ethics to defining technology's beneficial boundaries, and from embodied AI and 6G communications sketching future life scenarios to the rapid growth of emerging pillars like the unmanned aircraft economy and pioneering work in quantum technology and brain-computer interfaces—China's future industries are drafting a new blueprint.
The term "unmanned aircraft economy," previously referred to as a "new growth engine" and "emerging industry," has been elevated to "emerging pillar industry" and was included in the government work report for the third time this year, making it a hot topic during the 2026 National People's Congress (NPC) session.
NPC deputy and GAC GROUP Party Committee Secretary and Chairman Feng Xingya stated that flying cars and humanoid robots represent clear directions for technological innovation in the new era, signaling trends in advanced productive forces. As a strategic emerging industry, the unmanned aircraft economy is becoming a new engine driving economic and social development. He recommended strengthening overall planning for the unmanned aircraft economy, improving laws, regulations, and standard systems, refining regulatory mechanisms and models, and expanding commercial application scenarios to fully unleash its development potential.
Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are considered a key pathway for the green and low-carbon transformation of transportation. When asked why this year's focus is specifically on "accelerating the construction of 70MPa hydrogen refueling standards," Feng explained that hydrogen energy, as a clean and efficient secondary energy source, has been formally included in the national energy system by the Energy Law of the People's Republic of China. In the transportation sector, 70MPa hydrogen refueling technology is crucial for the large-scale development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Establishing a sound standards and regulatory system for 70MPa hydrogen refueling is an important prerequisite for orderly industrial development. Therefore, his proposal this year includes accelerating the creation of a unified national standards and regulatory framework, strengthening core technology breakthroughs, and accumulating safety data to provide solid institutional guarantees for the high-quality development of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Regarding why more automakers are entering the embodied AI robotics and unmanned aircraft economy sectors, Feng noted that flying cars and humanoid robots indicate clear directions for technological innovation, reflecting trends in advanced productive forces. In recent years, both national and local governments have intensively introduced policies to support and encourage the development of the unmanned aircraft economy and humanoid robotics industries, significantly expanding their industrial value space and market prospects. China's core unmanned aircraft economy market scale has exceeded 600 billion yuan, with a certain foundation and resource support already in place, though the industry overall remains in its early stages. This year, he submitted a proposal on promoting the high-quality development of China's unmanned aircraft economy, suggesting enhanced planning coordination, improved laws and standards, better regulatory mechanisms, and expanded commercial applications to fully release its potential as a new engine for economic and social development.
In the era of electrification and智能化, safety has become a key concern. From an automaker's perspective, Feng was asked where the boundary of responsibility should lie. He responded that GAC GROUP always prioritizes user safety as the lifeline of technological innovation, firmly building intelligent functionality experiences based on a safety baseline. Safety has always been the cornerstone of the automotive industry, an uncompromisable bottom line. As vehicles transition towards electrification and智能化, the connotation of safety continues to evolve. For instance, with global autonomous driving entering a critical phase of industrial competition, Feng suggested in a separate proposal to accelerate autonomous driving legislation and standard formulation, and to promote its large-scale application. He recommended speeding up the improvement of relevant laws and regulations and establishing a unified national standards and evaluation system to provide institutional guarantees for the widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles.
For the automotive industry to accelerate the formation of new quality productive forces during the "16th Five-Year Plan" period, and for automakers to play their role as "chain leaders," Feng emphasized that technological innovation must be the core engine. The transformation path should focus on electrification,智能化, connectivity, and sharing, supported by full industrial chain coordination and expanded through global布局. Specifically, he highlighted four areas: first, anchoring core technology攻关 to solidify the foundation of new quality productive forces, whose essence is innovation-driven productivity change; second, promoting systemic reforms to build efficient production paradigms; third, creating an integrated innovation ecosystem to expand the boundaries of new quality productive forces, which requires an open, collaborative environment that breaks down industry barriers and fosters deep integration of "automotive + energy + information + urban infrastructure" to create new value spaces; fourth, deepening global布局 to enhance the international competitiveness of new quality productive forces, which need to be tested and supported by the global market, requiring the industry to upgrade from "going out" to "going in" and "going up," ultimately building globally influential Chinese automotive brands.
As "chain leaders" within the automotive industry chain, automakers must not only secure the底线 of a self-controlled, safe industrial chain and drive coordinated upgrades across upstream and downstream sectors but also develop robust industrial clusters. They should establish integrated soft ecosystems encompassing standards, data, and talent to lead the high-quality and healthy development of the automotive industry.
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