BAIC Group among first to join China's L3 intelligent connected vehicle pilot program

Beijing (Gasgoo)- On June 4, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, and Ministry of Transport jointly announced the launch of the "Intelligent Connected Vehicle Access and Road Pilot Consortium." BAIC Group has been selected as one of the first automakers to join this pioneering initiative.

ARCFOX α S·HI; photo credit: ARCFOX

According to the MIIT's "Taxonomy of driving automation for vehicles", Level 3 (L3) refers to conditionally automated driving systems, where vehicles can drive autonomously under specific conditions but require the driver to take over when necessary. Compared to the currently prevalent Level 2 (L2) systems, which offer only partial driving assistance, L3 represents a significant technological leap. The establishment of this pilot consortium is expected to accelerate technological breakthroughs and the industrialization of intelligent connected vehicles in China.

In the intelligent connected vehicle sector, BAIC Group is committed to both independent and open innovation. The company focuses on demonstrating and operating autonomous taxis, Autonomous Valet Parking (AVP), 5G-V2X vehicle-road communication, and platooning. Last year, BAIC's subsidiaries, ARCFOX and Foton Motor, were among the first to receive Beijing's conditional autonomous driving (L3) expressway testing licenses.

On the product front, BAIC Group launched the world's first production vehicle supporting advanced urban road intelligent driving—the ARCFOX α S·HI —in 2022. This model has since been upgraded to the ADS 2.0 intelligent driving system, which can operate nationwide without relying on HD maps, enabling intelligent driving on any road. To date, BAIC Group's key passenger vehicle models are all equipped with intelligent driving assistance systems. In the commercial vehicle sector, Foton Motor achieved point-to-point autonomous driving on expressways this year, applied in the Beijing-Tianjin-Tanggu expressway for autonomous driving demonstration.