(Yicai) Aug. 5 -- China has released its first legally enforceable safety standards for L3 (conditional level) and L4 (high level) automated-driving systems.

The standards, unveiled by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology yesterday, will come into force next July 1. They are based on and supersede 2024’s GB/T 44721-2024 standard. While that was China’s first comprehensive set of technical specifications for advanced self-driving systems, it was voluntary and lacked binding legal force.

The new standards create an all-encompassing regulatory framework that covers both market-entry approval and ongoing safety oversight throughout a vehicle’s operational life. By cranking up compliance requirements for L3 and L4 vehicles, it marks a turning point for China’s smart-driving sector and puts advanced self-driving technologies under formal mandatory safety supervision.

Before launching new models, carmakers must submit a complete set of safety documents to regulators, including system function descriptions, system architecture and operating principles, identification of risks associated with automated driving systems, and risk-mitigation measures. A 17-page appendix within the standard details the requirements for compiling these safety dossiers.

Moreover, the new standards require automakers to build a corporate safety management system covering their entire work, from research, development, and manufacturing to over-the-air updates, post-sales accident response, and supply chain risk control. Regulators will be able to carry out periodic reviews of these systems to verify implementation.

The mandatory standards establish a full lifecycle safety record-keeping and management system for autonomous driving vehicles, Cui Dongshu, secretary-general of the China Passenger Car Association, told Yicai. For instance, they require self-driving systems to deliver safety performance no worse than that of a qualified, attentive human driver, which will help curb the practice of automakers treating consumers as test subjects, thereby better protecting user safety.

“The release of the new standards is a milestone for the intelligent driving industry,” Gu Jianmin, chief technology officer of French auto parts supplier Valeo’s China business, told Yicai. They will “force carmakers to upgrade their technical capabilities and will underpin a ‘survival of the fittest’ dynamic across the sector.”

Moreover, the new standards impose strict rules for human-machine interaction, takeover monitoring, and user notification mechanisms, Gu noted, adding that they can effectively prevent consumers from misusing or abusing self-driving systems and lower safety risks stemming from ambiguous human-machine accountability.

He believes that the new standards fill a regulatory gap, remove policy barriers for legal road operation and mass production of L3 and L4 vehicles, and will likely accelerate the mass deployment and high-quality industrial development of China’s self-driving technologies.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione