Since the beginning of 2026, the autonomous driving industry has been transitioning from a "feature competition" phase to a critical stage of "institutionalized commercial deployment." The gradual improvement of policies and regulations, the empowerment of perception and decision-making by large AI models, and the continuous expansion of commercial application scenarios are creating a three-pronged driving force, propelling the global autonomous driving sector into a phase of substantial implementation.
Amid this wave, the Huatai-PineBridge Intelligent Driving ETF (516520) has continued to attract significant capital inflows. Since 2026, its cumulative net inflows have reached 5.4 billion yuan, already exceeding 1.6 times the net inflows for the entire year of 2025. This has helped push its latest fund size to 10.27 billion yuan, making it the only ETF in its category with assets under management exceeding 4 billion yuan and giving it a relatively prominent liquidity advantage.
Technological Evolution and Competitive Focus
On the technological front, the industry's competitive focus is shifting from the iteration of single functional modules to a comprehensive contest involving AI's ability to interact with the physical world. The direction of embodied intelligence, represented by "Physical AI," is becoming a core competitive dimension for the industry's next phase. On June 29, a new automaker released its X-Mind technical framework, which uses a predictive world model to simulate and deduce complex driving scenarios, advancing autonomous driving from "post-event reaction" to "pre-event anticipation." On the same day, another autonomous driving technology company launched its HSD V2.0 version. Leveraging a world model and an end-to-end reinforcement learning architecture, it significantly enhanced predictive and decision-making capabilities in complex road conditions.
End-User Data Confirms Acceleration Trend
Terminal sales data further corroborates the accelerating trend of autonomous driving adoption. According to data released by an automotive industry association on July 3, retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles in China reached 1.037 million units in June, a month-on-month increase of 9%. Manufacturer wholesale figures reached 1.506 million units, up 11% month-on-month. On the same day, a joint announcement indicated that, effective January 1, 2027, the policy of halving the vehicle and vessel tax for energy-efficient vehicles will be cancelled, along with the exemption policies for pure electric commercial vehicles, plug-in hybrid commercial vehicles, and fuel cell commercial vehicles. As the penetration rate of new energy models in new car sales and their market share continue to rise, these adjustments to related tax rules are expected to accelerate the maturation of the industry's commercial profit models.
Ongoing Regulatory Framework Development
Regulatory frameworks at the policy level are also being continuously refined. On June 27, a mandatory national standard for the safety requirements of combined driving assistance systems for intelligent connected vehicles, organized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, was approved for release. Scheduled for implementation on January 1, 2027, it covers safety standards for three types of Level 2 products: basic single-lane, basic multi-lane, and Navigation on Autopilot (NOA) driving assistance systems. This provides a unified safety benchmark for the industry's large-scale application.
ETF Strategy and Index Composition
The Huatai-PineBridge Intelligent Driving ETF (516520) closely tracks the CSI Smart Car Theme Index. This index selects companies that provide terminal perception and platform applications for smart cars, as well as other representative companies benefiting from the smart car sector, to reflect the overall performance of the smart car industry. Its top five sector weightings are Semiconductors (26%), Auto Parts (20%), Passenger Vehicles (12%), Software Development (9%), and Consumer Electronics (9%), covering multiple segments of the smart car industry chain. It may serve as an important tool for investors seeking exposure to the new wave of smart vehicle development.
About the Fund Manager
The manager of the Huatai-PineBridge Intelligent Driving ETF (516520), Huatai-PineBridge Fund, was among the first batch of ETF managers in China. With over 19 years of experience in the index investment field, it has created transparent, easily tradable, and low-cost index tools for investors, such as the Huatai-PineBridge CSI 300 ETF (510300) and the Huatai-PineBridge A500 ETF (563360). As of the end of March 2026, the company's ETFs had cumulatively generated profits exceeding 223.4 billion yuan for holders over the preceding two years, making it one of only three public fund companies in the A-share market to achieve cumulative profits over two hundred billion yuan during that period.
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