China’s First L3 Autonomous Driving Models Gain Market Approval

Vehicles with conditional autonomous driving capabilities will enter the market as compliant products for the first time.

Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China officially announced that China’s first batch of L3 conditional autonomous driving models have obtained product market access approval.

This signifies that vehicles equipped with “conditional autonomous driving” functions will, for the first time, enter the market as compliant products, marking a critical step for autonomous driving technology from testing and validation towards commercial application.

The approvals were granted to two models, one from Chongqing Changan and the other from BAIC’s Arcfox brand.

The announcement shows that the Changan Automobile SC7000AAARBEV (Deepal SL03) battery electric sedan can achieve autonomous driving functions on single lanes of highways and urban expressways under traffic congestion conditions (maximum speed 50 km/h). Currently, this function is only enabled on specific road sections in Chongqing, including the Inner Ring Expressway, the New Inner Ring Expressway (Gaotanyan Interchange—Laijiaqiao Interchange), and Yudu Avenue (Renhe Interchange—Airport Interchange).

The Arcfox BJ7001A61NBEV (Arcfox αS6) battery electric sedan can achieve autonomous driving functions on single lanes of highways and urban expressways (maximum speed 80 km/h). Currently, this function is only enabled on specific road sections in Beijing, including the Jingtai Expressway (Jiugong New Bridge, Daxing District—Airport North Line Expressway), the Airport North Line Expressway (Daqu South Bridge—Daxing Airport Expressway), and the Daxing Airport Expressway (South 6th Ring Road—Airport North Line Expressway).

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology specifically emphasized that the next step involves collaborating with local authorities to strengthen operational monitoring and improve the standards and regulatory system, laying the foundation for broader commercial application.

In addition to the first two companies that obtained market access approval, over ten domestic automakers have already secured L3-level test licenses.

Among them, Changan Automobile leads with 17 licenses; its Deepal S09 Ultra and all Avatr model series are already positioned in the L3 track. Seres, through its cooperation with Huawei, has obtained 11 licenses, with the AITO M9, M8, and M7 series all included in the test list. BYD, leveraging its “God’s Eye” system, took the lead in obtaining the country’s first L3 test license for expressways and highways, with models such as the Yangwang and Han EV series being part of the program.

Furthermore, brands like NIO, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz also have models entered into the test sequence.