The inaugural meeting of the China Automotive R&D Software Industry Innovation Alliance was held in Beijing E-Town on Apr 7. 

At the meeting, it was announced that Chen Shiyi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and and Sun Fengchun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, would serve as the first co-chairpersons of the first session of the innovation alliance. 

Zuo Rengui, deputy director of the Beijing E-Town Administrative Committee, attended the meeting.

Zuo remarked that the total output value of the next-generation information technology and new energy intelligent automobile industries in Beijing E-Town exceeded 350 billion yuan ($50.92 billion) in 2022, providing a solid foundation and resource advantages for the establishment of the innovation alliance. 

Taking the establishment of the alliance as an opportunity, Beijing E-Town will promote collaborative development, verification, use, and iterative updatinge of automotive R&D software, Zuo noted. 

According to Chen, the independent R&D of automotive software in China requires close communication between the government and enterprises. It should be closely integrated with industry standards to enhance the authority of software. 

Currently, members of the alliance have reached a consensus on three points,: which are to take immediate action and quickly promote R&D work; to seize the opportunities of rapid development of domestic brand automobiles and overcome software challenges; and to fully play the alliance's role of the alliance as a bridge, to an ecosystem for the software industry. 

At the meeting, the innovation alliance also awarded appointment certificates to representatives of its first session of vice chairperson units, secretariat representatives, and expert committee members. 

Yang Shichun, secretary-general of the innovation alliance, released plans for the establishment of the China Automotive R&D Software Industry Innovation Alliance, sharing the establishment status and work arrangements for 2023.