The Supreme People’s Court in China has ruled that human drivers in cars are responsible for their vehicle in a bid to tighten regulations after a high-profile incident that claimed three lives in March last year, reported Channel News Asia. The reference case for this is a September ruling for a case in Zhejiang, China where a driver was jailed after being found to be fully relying on the vehicle’s assisted driving functions while operating the vehicle drunk. The driver installed a device to mimic a person’s hand on the steering wheel, set the car to drive, and then fell asleep in the passenger seat, the Chinese court was reported as saying. “The on-board assisted driving system cannot replace the driver as the primary driving subject. [The driver] is still the one who actually performs the driving tasks and bears the responsibility to ensure driving safety,” the Chinese Supreme People’s Court said in its ruling, according to the report. The court’s ruling now makes this the legal standard across China, and lower courts are to reference this judgement when deciding on similar cases, reported Channel News Asia. This is the latest ruling by China on vehicle safety, following the country’s ban on hidden door handles, as well as for yoke-style steering wheels, both set to take effect on January 1, 2027. For hidden door handles, China’s revised ruling states there must be a recessed space measuring at least 6 cm by 2 cm by 2.5 cm for a hand to grasp a handle, while steering wheels will need to undergo impact testing at 10 distinct points around the rim, including the top centre, effectively ruling out yoke-style wheels which omit the upper section of the wheel rim. Compare prices between different insurer providers to save the most on your car insurance renewal compared to other competing services. Many payment method supported and you can pay with instalment using Atome, Grab PayLater or Shopee SPayLater.