China approves first L3 autonomous passenger cars for limited public deployment

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On December 15, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology ("MIIT") announced that it has formally approved two passenger vehicle models equipped with Level 3 autonomous driving capabilities, marking a regulatory first for the domestic market.

The first approved model is Changan Automobile's SC7000AAARBEV battery-electric sedan. The vehicle supports autonomous driving in single lanes on highways and urban expressways under congested traffic conditions, with a maximum operating speed of 50 km/h. At this stage, the function is restricted to designated roads in Chongqing, including sections of the Inner Ring Expressway, the New Inner Ring Expressway, and Yudu Avenue.

The second model is the BJ7001A61NBEV electric sedan under the ARCFOX brand. It enables autonomous driving within a single lane on highways and urban expressways at speeds of up to 80 km/h. For now, its use is limited to specific routes in Beijing, including sections of the Jing-Tai Expressway, the Airport North Expressway, and the Daxing Airport Expressway.

The approvals are widely seen as a watershed moment, signaling China's transition from pilot testing to the early commercial application of Level 3 autonomous driving technologies.

In a related development, GAC's premium electric brand HYPTEC recently disclosed that it has obtained a permit for Level 3 autonomous driving road tests under defined conditions. These tests allow vehicles to operate autonomously on designated highway mainlines at speeds of up to 120 km/h.

Regulatory groundwork for these approvals was laid earlier this year. On September 17, the MIIT's Department of Equipment Industry I released a draft mandatory national standard titled Safety Requirements for Combined Driving Assistance Systems in Intelligent Connected Vehicles for public consultation. The document formally defines Level 3 systems as "conditional automation," under which drivers are permitted to disengage entirely from the driving task in predefined scenarios.