The 2026 World Automobile Standards Innovation Conference (Wasic), themed “Building New Partnerships for Sustainable Development”, recently came to a successful close at Pingshan District, China, where it was held from May 27 to 29.
Hosted by the China Automotive Technology and Research Center Co, Ltd (CATARC), the conference was co-organised by the China Automotive Standardization Institute and CATARC Automotive Test Center (Guangzhou) Co, Ltd (CATARC Guangzhou), among others.
More than 300 guests gathered for the event, representing nine international and regional organisations including United Nations agencies and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Also present were government bodies, enterprises, universities, research institutes and trade media from 14 overseas countries and regions such as Thailand and Malaysia.
Participants jointly took the pulse of global trends in automotive technical standards and regulations, and promoted the establishment of a more open and collaborative new mechanism for international standardisation cooperation in the automotive industry.
During the conference, representatives from CATARC Guangzhou and the Department of Standards Malaysia (DoSM) held in-depth discussions on pathways for standards synergy between the two countries’ automotive industries and the next steps for deepening cooperation.
They also exchanged views on further building consensus and broadening the scope of collaboration.
The CATARC Guangzhou representative stated that the company has always regarded Malaysia as a key market for deepening its international business. Currently, the company has formally established a strategic cooperation relationship with the Malaysia Automotive, Robotics and IoT Institute (MARii).
It has also carried out multi-level business exchanges with competent authorities and core institutions including Malaysia’s Ministry of Transport, Proton, the Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (Sirim), and the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros).
As a result, the cooperation network continues to expand, and the foundation of mutual trust grows increasingly solid. Notably, in 2025, CATARC Guangzhou reached an important cooperation agreement with Miros and was officially authorised to serve as the official laboratory for Asean NCAP 2026–2030 (the New Car Assessment Programme for South-East Asia).
Looking ahead, CATARC Guangzhou will fully leverage its technological platforms and resource integration strengths to continuously deepen close exchanges with the DoSM, MARii and other relevant stakeholders.
It will actively promote in-depth integration between China and Malaysia in fields such as joint automotive standards development, cutting-edge technology innovation and industrial capacity building.
Both sides will jointly explore cooperation opportunities in frontier technology fields including new energy and intelligent connected vehicles, accelerate the creation of an open and shared regional automotive industry ecosystem, and help drive the coordinated development of the China-Asean automotive industry to a higher level.
With standards as the bridge and innovation as the sail, the automotive industries of China and Malaysia are sailing side by side into a new voyage of cooperation.
