ARCFOX Alpha S becomes China's first L3 autonomous vehicle model to receive official road plates

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On December 23, Beijing issued China's first batch of dedicated license plates for L3 autonomous driving vehicles, granting the ARCFOX Alpha S (L3 version) full legal road access, according to a post on BAIC Group's WeChat account.

Three vehicles were registered under the plates 京AA0001Z, 京AA0733Z and 京AA0880Z, marking the first time an L3 production model has completed both regulatory approval and formal registration. The milestone signals a transition from controlled technical validation to legally sanctioned real-world operation for Level 3 autonomous driving in China.

Just a week earlier, on December 15, the Alpha S (L3) received official product access approval from China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Within seven days, the vehicle progressed from regulatory clearance to completed license plate registration, demonstrating an unusually efficient linkage between product approval and road-use authorization—two of the most critical hurdles in autonomous vehicle commercialization.

The newly issued plates carry strong symbolic weight. The plate 京AA0001Z is recognized as the first official autonomous driving license plate in China that allows operation beyond congestion-restricted highway conditions, effectively representing the highest level of autonomous driving technology currently approved for road use. Another plate, 京AA0733Z, deliberately echoes BAIC BJEV's A-share stock code, reflecting the company's dual focus on user-facing innovation and long-term confidence in capital markets.

Among the first batch of approved L3 models, the ARCFOX Alpha S stands out as the only vehicle equipped with LiDAR, providing critical redundancy and reliability for its perception system. Prior to registration, the vehicle underwent extensive internal testing, followed by formal compliance evaluations organized by traffic authorities. It also participated in full-process emergency drills—covering accident response and traffic violations—conducted jointly with experts from the Ministry of Public Security and Beijing traffic police on pilot highway sections. Initial trial operations will take place on designated routes including the Beijing–Taipei Expressway, Airport North Line Expressway and Daxing Airport Expressway, allowing the vehicles to accumulate real-world operational data in complex traffic environments ahead of broader commercialization.

According to BAIC Group, the Alpha S (L3)'s early entry into licensed road operation is the result of long-term investment in intelligent connectivity, new energy technologies and vehicle safety, supported by both in-house innovation and open collaboration. BAIC's proprietary intelligent vehicle framework, known as "BAIC Yuanjing Intelligence," is among the first in the industry to cover assisted driving capabilities from L2 through L4. Built around a "one core, three rings" safety architecture, the system emphasizes safety-by-design, lifecycle-wide protection and continuous validation. A dedicated autonomous driving safety monitoring platform enables round-the-clock vehicle status tracking and data analysis, forming a closed-loop management system that integrates real-time monitoring, data-driven insights and ongoing optimization.