More than a year ago the DRM standard (in AM) appeared, for the first time, in the process of car implementation in China. In September 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA), and the state administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) jointly released a document, guiding the Chinese automotive industry to implement digital wireless reception modules. This was the first time that a Chinese government document explicitly encouraged local broadcasters to provide DRM services in the AM band and urged the automotive industry to implement DRM reception. The message was clear: cars must be equipped with digital radio reception modules.

In May of this year, in a meeting attended by 31 Chinese car manufacturers including new energy automotive enterprises, MIIT, NRTA joined by the state administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) held a meeting in Beijing to promote the implementation of in-vehicle wireless reception modules as a basic function.

And as things seemed to gather speed, in September 2024 the same key Chinese ministries solicited opinions on the revision and development plan for the mandatory national Standard for “In-Vehicle Wireless Reception System”. One month later the positive feedback (including from the 31 Chinese car brands) meant that a new mandatory national standard will be established, and the completion is to be achieved within 22 months (by September 2025).

Yunnan province (large region bordering India) has deployed a DRM network and is testing DRM SFN as well as AFS functionality. Their next step is to set up a road test environment that meets all the requirements of DRM in-vehicle wireless reception test. 

DRM, as the only global, all broadcast frequency bands open standard, uses various additional data services, including Journaline with images, DRM Text Messages in different languages etc. as an integral part of the standard. As a DRM key feature is its flexibility, DRM AM transmissions and therefore emergency warnings can be directed only towards the affected areas, with sound, text, images, maps and other information in more than one language.  

With the progress of DRM made in countries like India, Indonesia, Pakistan and now China, it looks like DRM is covering more ground with more features in the largest continent of the globe.