China pushes to legalize self

Nine major Chinese automakers, including BYD, SAIC, and NIO, have been allowed to proceed with a pilot program to test their production vehicles with medium-to-high levels of automation on public roads, according to a document jointly published by four central government departments on Tuesday. The initiative, launched in November by China’s top industry, public security, transport, and housing authorities, is aimed at facilitating the deployment of intelligent and connected vehicles and sustaining the drafting of subsequent rules, regulations, and national standards for access to such vehicles.

The nine companies are mostly state-owned manufacturers with some private EV makers also included, namely BAIC, BYD, Changan, FAW, GAC, NIO, SAIC, SAIC’s truck subsidiary Hongyan, as well as electric bus maker Yutong. They are now required to detail their proposed testing plans and safety evaluation methodology for autonomous vehicles as part of an application process for temporary permits to commercially operate their robocars with L3 and L4 self-driving functionality on select Chinese public roads. Some of the early movers with the technology, including Tesla, Xpeng Motors, and Huawei, did not join the program. [MIIT announcement, in Chinese, TechNode reporting]