The country has introduced its first mandatory national standards for advanced automation and high-level self-driving technologies, aimed at establishing safety protocols prior to the deployment of autonomous vehicles.
Announced yesterday by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, these standards will take effect on July 1 of next year. They represent an update and enhancement to the 2024 recommended national standards GB/T 44721-2024, which originally provided the first comprehensive technical guidelines for high-level autonomous driving.
Compared to the previous recommended standards, the new mandatory regulations introduce a safety-case mechanism for market entry. Automakers are now required to submit detailed safety documentation—covering system functions, layout, operating principles, risk identification related to automated driving, and risk mitigation strategies—before launching new models. The standards include a comprehensive 17-page appendix outlining specific documentation requirements.
Additionally, the standards mandate that vehicle manufacturers establish a safety management system that spans all phases, from research and development and manufacturing to over-the-air updates, post-sale incident response, and supply chain risk management. Regulatory agencies are authorized to perform routine inspections to ensure compliance with these safety management practices.
The regulations specify entire lifecycle safety management and safety-case frameworks for autonomous vehicles. For instance, they stipulate that self-driving systems must ensure safety performance at least equal to that of a competent, attentive human driver. This is intended to prevent manufacturers from treating consumers as test subjects and to enhance user safety.
Industry experts regard the release of these standards as a significant milestone for the intelligent driving sector. They set unified mandatory safety access standards for Level 3 and Level 4 autonomous vehicles and require automakers to implement comprehensive safety management systems subject to rigorous, multi-dimensional inspections. This push encourages technology upgrades and promotes a competitive, progressive industry environment.
The standards also establish strict guidelines for human-machine interaction, takeover monitoring, and user notification systems. These measures are designed to prevent misuse or abuse of self-driving features, reducing safety risks associated with unclear responsibility between humans and machines.
Experts believe these regulations address existing gaps in oversight for high-level autonomous driving, removing policy hurdles that have hindered the legal operation and mass production of Level 3 and Level 4 vehicles. They are expected to accelerate large-scale deployment and support high-quality industrial growth within the sector of autonomous driving technology in the country.