On October 16th, at the "2025 World Intelligent Connected Vehicle Conference", Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Xin Guobin disclosed a set of data that intuitively demonstrated the strong development trend of China's intelligent connected vehicle industry.

The proportion of new passenger car sales in China equipped with combined driving assistance functions has exceeded 60%, which means that over 60% of new passenger cars on the road have intelligent driving assistance capabilities; Over 35000 kilometers of open testing demonstration roads have been opened nationwide, providing a vast real-world scenario for the verification of intelligent driving technology; The number of deployed intelligent roadside units has exceeded 11000, laying a solid infrastructure network for the integration of vehicle, road, and cloud.

Behind the rapid development of the industry is a continuously improving policy system that continues to empower. Up to now, China has formulated and released 88 national and industrial standards in the field of intelligent connected vehicles, actively participated in the development of global standards, led the development of nearly 10 international standards such as auto drive system and test scenarios, and took the initiative in the global competition for the voice of intelligent driving standards; In addition, the pilot program for the admission of intelligent connected vehicles is also being promoted in an orderly manner, opening up a key channel for technology to move from testing to commercialization.

It is particularly crucial that China has established a three-level policy system of "national strategic direction setting, departmental coordination in establishing rules, and local pilot efforts to overcome difficulties", which has become the core driving force for promoting the continuous iteration of intelligent driving technology and steady progress of the industry.

Three level policy system escorts, China's L3 level intelligent driving system is poised to take off

Top level strategic anchoring direction

On February 24, 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission and 11 other ministries released the "Intelligent Vehicle Innovation and Development Strategy", which clarified the "vehicle road cloud integration" technology route and incorporated intelligent driving into the core framework of building a strong manufacturing and transportation country.

The policy points out to promote the large-scale and comprehensive application pilot of intelligent vehicles at the city level in areas with conditions, and support advantageous regions to create national leading areas for the Internet of Vehicles. In terms of cultivating new market entities, it is proposed to encourage vehicle companies to gradually become providers of intelligent automotive products, and encourage component companies to gradually become key system integration suppliers for intelligent vehicles.

By 2025, the technological innovation, industrial ecology, infrastructure, regulatory standards, product supervision, and network security system of China's standard intelligent vehicles will be basically formed. Realize the large-scale production of intelligent vehicles with conditional autonomous driving, and realize the market-oriented application of highly autonomous intelligent vehicles in specific environments.

In 2025, the policy will be further upgraded. On October 16th, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology revealed that it is organizing the preparation of the "15th Five Year Plan" for the development of the intelligent connected new energy vehicle industry, positioning intelligent connected vehicles as an "important force in promoting the development of new industrialization and new quality productivity", clarifying subsequent development goals and deploying key tasks; Accelerate the formulation of relevant standards for combined driving assistance, autonomous driving, etc., optimize the production access management system, and standardize the industrial competition order.

Collaborative construction of basic rules among ministries and commissions

Multiple ministries have established a rule system covering the entire lifecycle through a triple path of "joint mechanism+special policies+dynamic supervision", achieving full chain standardization from technical testing to commercial operation.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Transport established a joint working mechanism in 2021, clarifying the division of responsibilities at three levels - the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology coordinates industrial technology standards and access management, the Ministry of Public Security is responsible for road traffic safety supervision and illegal disposal, and the Ministry of Transport leads the coordination of testing road opening and demonstration applications.

This mechanism requires provincial authorities to report testing and demonstration data every six months, forming a governance loop of "central coordination, local implementation, and dynamic feedback". As of 2025, more than 28 million kilometers of testing data have been collected nationwide, providing empirical support for policy iteration. In 2025, further strengthen the linkage among multiple departments, establish an OTA upgrade filing information sharing mechanism between the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration for Market Regulation, explore joint filing and joint supervision, and solve the problem of the previous disconnect between access and recall management.

At the level of basic rules, the "Management Specification for Intelligent Connected Vehicle Road Testing and Demonstration Application (Trial)" jointly issued by the three departments clarifies for the first time the "triple core standards": the testing subject must have vehicle modification qualifications and million level accident compensation capabilities; The test vehicle must be equipped with an expected functional safety system that complies with the ISO 21448 standard; The data storage implements a "dual backup" system, which mandates the recording of 10 types of critical data (including sensor status, system decision logs, etc.) 90 seconds before the accident, providing technical basis for responsibility tracing.

On June 4, 2024, the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released a notice on the "Four Departments Orderly Carry out Pilot Projects for Intelligent Connected Vehicle Access and Road Access", announcing the first batch of nine joint ventures for intelligent connected vehicle access and road access pilot projects, including traditional car companies and new car manufacturing forces, covering three major categories: passenger cars, buses, and trucks.

Three level policy system escorts, China's L3 level intelligent driving system is poised to take off

Prior to this, the L3 level autonomous driving license obtained by car companies was limited to the testing phase, but this time entering the pilot list means that after passing the testing, mass-produced products can be developed.

On July 1, 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and five other departments jointly announced the first batch of pilot cities for the "vehicle road cloud integration" application of intelligent connected vehicles, covering a total of 20 cities (consortia). The specific list is as follows:

Three level policy system escorts, China's L3 level intelligent driving system is poised to take off

Entering 2025, the policy of intelligent connected vehicles will show the characteristic of "breakthroughs in multiple fields".

In response to the "propaganda chaos" and safety risks of L2 level assisted driving, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued a special regulatory policy in February, establishing the "three prohibitions and one compulsion" rule: prohibiting the use of misleading terms such as "autonomous driving" and "advanced intelligent driving", and standardizing them as "(combination) assisted driving"; Prohibit unauthorized user testing such as "Thousand Person Group"; Prohibit OTA from frequently upgrading unverified features; Mandatory requirement for the system to have driver status monitoring function, triggering a 30 minute function disable mechanism for three consecutive instances of hand disengagement from the steering wheel.

On February 25th, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a notice on further strengthening the management of access, recall, and online software upgrades for intelligent connected vehicle products. This policy further refines the management requirements for intelligent connected vehicles, strengthens the management of intelligent connected vehicle products equipped with combined driving assistance systems and OTA upgrade functions, improves the safety management system, consolidates the main responsibility of enterprises, and promotes the improvement of product safety levels.

On March 3rd, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly issued a notice on further strengthening the management of intelligent connected vehicle product access, recall, and software online upgrade, refining the requirements for product access parameter declaration and incorporating information on combined driving assistance systems, OTA upgrade capabilities, etc. into production consistency management.

On September 12th, the "Work Plan for Stable Growth in the Automotive Industry (2025-2026)" jointly issued by eight departments clearly stated for the first time the "conditional approval of L3 level vehicle production access", and simultaneously promoted the improvement of road traffic safety laws and insurance regulations. This policy is regarded as the "birth certificate" for L3 level autonomous driving, marking the official transition of China's intelligent connected vehicles from the testing stage to the eve of commercialization. The core breakthrough of this policy is that, under normal activation of the system, the driving responsibility has been transferred from the driver to the car manufacturer for the first time, breaking the old rule of L2 level "driver full responsibility". The relevant laws and regulations of this policy will be fully implemented by 2026, and L3 level models are expected to be mass-produced on a large scale.

Synchronized promotion of standard quantification, the "Safety Requirements for Intelligent Connected Vehicle Combined Driving Assistance System (Draft for Comments)" was released on September 17th, and the deadline for comments is November 15th. This policy is scheduled to be implemented on January 1, 2027, covering 46 field tests, 72 hour road tests, and 8 categories of vehicle hazard thresholds. Products that fail the testing will not be allowed to enter. In terms of innovative regulatory tools, we will deepen the regulatory system for automotive safety sandboxes, requiring companies to submit in-depth testing plans after obtaining production access, and have regulatory authorities track the entire process of functional safety optimization.

Local pilot projects unleash innovative vitality

Under the promotion of national policies, various regions have formed a pilot pattern of "differentiated breakthroughs and coordinated promotion" based on resource endowments, accumulating practical experience for national policies.

Beijing: Beijing Tianjin Hebei Collaborative and Vehicle Road Cloud Benchmark

The autonomous vehicle Regulations of Beijing, implemented on April 1, 2025, not only allows the commercial charging of vehicles above L3 level, but also pioneered the establishment of a mutual recognition mechanism for Beijing Tianjin Hebei policies. The test qualifications obtained by enterprises in any of the three regions can be used across regions. The world's first integrated demonstration zone for vehicle road cloud has been established, and the construction of the five major systems of "vehicle, road, cloud, network, and map" has been carried out through the system. The city level engineering test platform 3.0 phase has been completed, covering 600 square kilometers. Through dynamic optimization, the traffic efficiency of 257 intersections in Yizhuang New City has been improved by 15%, gathering 35 test vehicles and more than 120 upstream and downstream enterprises, forming a closed loop of "technology research and development scene verification industry landing".

Shanghai: Large scale operation and scene expansion

Shanghai has launched the "Model Speed Intelligent Travel" action plan, aiming to achieve 6 million passenger trips with L4 level autonomous driving by 2027. Currently, Robotaxi has been promoted to operate normally in the core area of Pudong through a driverless demonstration permit. Based on the policy advantages of the Lingang New Area, the first "vehicle road cloud integration" highway test section in China has been opened, covering 105 kilometers of ring highways and supporting advanced functional tests such as formation driving and automatic lane changing in high-speed scenarios.

Guangzhou: Model of Full Scene Supervision and Industrial Collaboration

The "Management Measures for Road Testing and Demonstration Activities of Intelligent Connected Vehicles and Autonomous Driving Equipment in Guangzhou" to be implemented in September 2025 will establish a "six department collaboration+hierarchical supervision" system - the Municipal Transportation Bureau will coordinate the opening of testing roads, the Municipal Industry and Information Technology Bureau will be responsible for vehicle type certification, and the Municipal Urban Management Bureau and Postal Management Bureau will respectively lead the supervision of environmental sanitation and delivery scenarios, forming a responsibility loop covering the entire industry chain.

Relying on the Nansha Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Joint Laboratory, promote the landing of L4 level technology in unmanned container truck scenarios at ports, and by 2024, increase container turnover by 22% through "vehicle road cloud collaborative scheduling". Innovate the "mixed traffic pilot zone" system, open a 50 square kilometer comprehensive testing area in Huangpu District, allowing unmanned sanitation vehicles, delivery vehicles, and social vehicles to mix, with a cumulative safe operation of over 1.2 million kilometers.

Shenzhen: Pioneer of Vehicle Road Cloud Integration and Scene Innovation

As one of the first national pilot cities for "vehicle road cloud integration", Pingshan District has completed the networked transformation of 143 nodes, creating 60 demonstration scenarios in 6 categories including quality public transportation and low-speed logistics. The country's first autonomous parking 2.0 version landed at the airport, achieving a 30% increase in parking space scheduling efficiency through a smart parking platform, supporting vehicle autonomous cruise reception and beyond line of sight warning.

Relying on the advantages of Qianhai policy, promote Robotaxi to achieve "wave and stop" in the business core area, and exceed 800000 orders in the first half of 2025; At the same time, the intelligent testing section of Binhai Avenue will be opened to support L4 level vehicles to verify extreme scenarios such as rainy days and strong backlighting, accumulating data support for national standards.

Wuhan: Industrial Agglomeration and Global Opening up

From March 1, the Regulations of Wuhan on the Promotion of the Development of Intelligent Connected Vehicles was officially implemented, providing system specifications for L3 and above autonomous vehicle.

Wuhan aims to become the world's first city for autonomous driving, with over 3800 kilometers of pilot roads open, covering 14 administrative regions and gathering more than 500 industrial chain enterprises such as Baidu and Dongfeng Yuexiang. Legislation supports the transformation of vehicles towards "mobile intelligent terminals", allowing car companies to expand value-added services such as in car office and entertainment through OTA upgrades. By 2024, relying on smart driving scenarios, the proportion of technology driven tourism entering the country will reach 27%.

Three level policy system escorts, China's L3 level intelligent driving system is poised to take off

▍ Write at the end

Policy innovation that precisely focuses on industry pain points is a key leap for intelligent connected vehicles to achieve the transition from "testing and demonstration" to "commercial operation".

Nowadays, the commercialization of autonomous driving in China is imminent, and Huawei has taken the lead in sounding the charge. On April 22, 2025, Huawei officially released the world's first L3 commercial grade intelligent driving system ADS 4.0, achieving a key leap from technology research and development to commercialization; Not only that, Huawei has recently collaborated with several mainstream car manufacturers to jointly release the "Huawei Qiankun Intelligent Automotive Solution Network Security White Paper", actively seizing the standard discourse power in the L3 level intelligent driving field by building a unified network security standard, and setting a safety bottom line for industry development.

From the perspective of industry policy trends, multiple signals have clearly pointed towards accelerated commercialization. Various signs indicate that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is expected to officially introduce the L3 level autonomous driving certification system by the end of 2025 or early 2026. Initially, the focus will be on specific areas with relatively controllable scenarios such as highways to reduce safety risks in the early stages of commercialization; In the future, we will further promote the cross regional connectivity of vehicle road cloud integration facilities, break down regional barriers, and lay the foundation for the large-scale application of autonomous driving functions.

With the continuous development of the three-dimensional drive of "policy innovation scenario openness industry synergy", the industry predicts that China is expected to achieve a penetration rate of over 15% for L3 level intelligent driving functions in the mid-range automotive market by 2026, marking the official entry of intelligent connected vehicles into the stage of large-scale consumption.