China issues draft guideline to carry out intelligent connected vehicle pilot work nationwide

Beijing (Gasgoo)- On Nov. 2, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and Ministry of Public Security (MPS) issued a new draft guideline (the Draft) to expand tests and applications for intelligent connected vehicles in China.

Baidu Driverless Robotaxi in Beijing; photo credit: Baidu

The Draft signifies that road tests for autonomous driving vehicles will be gradually carried out nationwide. Before the Draft, such demonstration works were usually promoted by local governments in some cities in the country, such as in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

The Draft, which is soliciting public feedback until December 1, said the two ministries will select eligible vehicle manufacturers and ICVs equipped with autonomous driving functions that meet the conditions for mass production to carry out tests on selected public roads in pilot cities.

Notably, the autonomous driving function carried by intelligent connected vehicles (ICVs) hereinafter refers to the Level-3 (conditional autonomous driving) and Level-4 (highly autonomous driving) functions defined in the national standard “Taxonomy of driving automation for vehicles (GB/T 40429-2021)”. This excludes those ICVs with Level-2 autonomation functions in the general market. 

Pony.ai Driverless Robotaxis in Beijing; photo credit: Pony.ai

The intention of the Draft is that, by carrying out pilot work, ICV manufacturers and users should be guided to strengthen capacity building, and facilitate the improvement and iterative optimization of ICVs’ function and performance, on the premise of ensuring safety. Based on the management experience for pilot demonstrations, the formulation and revision of relevant laws, regulations, and technical standards should be promoted, in order to perfect the production access management system and road traffic safety management system of ICVs in China. 

According to the Draft, the pilot cities should have the local regulations or management policies, organization and coordination mechanism, and other policy guarantees to support the implementation of ICV demonstrations. Meanwhile, public roads, transportation infrastructure, communication infrastructure, necessary infrastructure conditions, such as high precision map pilot road traffic facilities that meet the national laws, regulations, and technical standards are also necessary. The pilot cities should also hold adequate foundation of road test and demonstration application of ICVs, provincial or municipal ICV safety monitoring platforms, automotive network security and data security management abilities, and safety hazards and emergency handling abilities. 

The Draft specifies that entities wishing to conduct pilot works should purchase insurance for the pilot vehicle and apply for registrations. A qualified safety driver should be in the driver's seat of the vehicle and monitors the running status of the vehicle as well as its surrounding environment. The ICVs used for the pilot operation can only be activated within the authorized areas of the pilot cities. 

Moreover, entities participating in the demonstration work are required to strengthen the management of the data collected during the pilot operation. The storage, transmission, and processing of the data should comply with the relevant laws, regulations, and technical requirements of China’s Regulations on Automobile Data Security Administration.