China advances second batch of Level 3 approvals after Changan and BAIC

• An MIIT official said work on the second batch is underway, without disclosing the automakers, models or approval timeline.
• The first models from Changan and BAIC received conditional approval in December 2025.

China is advancing a second batch of pilot approvals for Level 3 autonomous driving vehicles, building on the first conditional permits granted last year to models from Changan Automobile (SZSE: 000625) and Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC Group).

Guo Shougang, head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's (MIIT) equipment industry department, disclosed the progress at the 2026 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference, according to a Cailian report on Thursday.

Changan and BAIC received conditional approval for their Level 3 autonomous driving vehicles in December 2025, and work on the second batch of pilot approvals is now underway, Guo said.

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The ministry will continue to strengthen vehicle operation monitoring and safety measures, and review lessons learned to support the safe operation of intelligent connected vehicles, he said.

The report did not identify the automakers or models involved in the second batch, or specify when approvals are expected.

The first approved models were Changan's Deepal SL03 and BAIC's Arcfox Alpha S, both battery electric sedans.

Under the initial approvals, the Deepal SL03 is permitted to perform single-lane autonomous driving at speeds of up to 50 km/h in congested traffic on designated highways and urban expressways in Chongqing.

China grants 1st L3 autonomous driving permits for regular passenger cars - CnEVPostChina's industrial regulator has for the first time approved two Level 3 autonomous driving models, from Changan and Arcfox respectively.

The Arcfox Alpha S is permitted to perform single-lane autonomous driving at speeds of up to 80 km/h on designated highways and urban expressways in Beijing. Both approvals restrict the roads and operating conditions in which the functions can be used.

These product approvals differ from the Level 3 road-testing permits previously obtained by automakers. They allow approved vehicles to participate in road-use pilot programs on designated routes, rather than authorizing nationwide use of the functions.

China is also developing supporting safety rules as the approval pilots advance.

The mandatory national standard, Safety Requirements for Autonomous Driving Systems of Intelligent Connected Vehicles, was announced in August and will take effect on July 1, 2027.

The standard applies to Level 3 and Level 4 systems and requires safety performance at least equivalent to that of a competent and attentive human driver performing the dynamic driving task. Level 3 systems must also monitor the driver's ability to take over.

On October 20, the MIIT also launched a public consultation on automotive exterior lighting standards, proposing to allow vehicles equipped with Level 3 or higher autonomous driving systems to have optional turquoise automated driving system (ADS) indicator lights.

Under the draft, the lights would turn on automatically when the relevant function is activated and turn off when the system disengages. The proposed lighting standard would take effect on January 1, 2028, though the final provisions and implementation arrangements have yet to be determined.

China sets unified safety baseline for L3, L4 autonomous driving - CnEVPostThe standard requires autonomous driving systems to be at least as safe as a competent and attentive driver performing the dynamic driving task.