context: After NDRC and MIIT announced plans to develop the autonomous car industry in January 2018, MIIT, MPS and MoT finally released draft regulations to enable road trials, key to developing the technology. Rumoured in October 2017, several locations have already allocated roads for trials and issued provisional regulations, which will now be adjusted to fit the new national standard. China also welcomes foreign investment in the industry.
Ministry of Industry and IT (MIIT), Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and Ministry of Transport issued 'Road testing regulations (trial) for connected and automated vehicles (CAVs)'. MPS is also working with legislators to amend Road Safety Law, said Li Jiangping 李江平 MPS Transport Management Office vice director at a press conference. The regulations help China test conditional (L3), advanced (L4) and complete (L5) automated driving, says Xin Guobin 辛国斌 MIIT vice-minister. Chen Yin 陈因 MIIT chief engineer reiterated developing key technologies like LTE-V2X and 5G.
To conduct road tests, a connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) needs a temporary license plate. Requirements for obtaining such a plate include
- buying at least a C¥5 million insurance to cover liability in case of an accident
- having tested the CAV for over three years
- having a driver ready to take over any moment
- passing a number of tests on a remote stretch of road, with local government assigning specific locations
Shanghai, Chongqing, Beijing, Changchun, Wuhan and Wuxi are building half-open CAV testing areas. The assigned location offers a simple road situation, says Ren Huang'ou 任黄瓯 Shanghai Commission of Economy and IT vice director. To meet company demands Shanghai will add areas with more complex traffic situations, says Ren.