China Greenlights First Commercial Driverless Vehicle Operation

In Brief

• China has approved its first commercial permits for driverless vehicles.
• The vehicles passed extensive testing and are approved for limited L3 autonomous driving.
• The move marks a milestone in China’s autonomous vehicle rollout.

Shedrach Kongvong 2025-12-17

Autonomous vehicles are starting to get mainstream adoption in China as the self-driving technology war advances. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has announced the granting of permits for the first driverless vehicle models.

In a press release on December 15th, the agency said two vehicles, the Changan SC7000AAARBEV pure electric sedan and the Jihu BJ7001A61NBEV pure electric sedan are the models granted the permit to operate commercially having gone through required testing.

Both the Changan SC7000AAARBEV pure electric sedan and the Jihu brand BJ7001A61NBEV pure electric sedan can achieve autonomous driving function in a single lane on highways and urban expressways. However, with maximum speeds of 50km/h 80km/h respectively.

A Breakthrough in Autonomous Adoption

China is one of the most advanced countries when it comes to technology. But the adoption has been slow especially when it comes to revolutionary technologies like autonomous vehicles. This explains why the country is just approving the first self-driving vehicles for commercial use, when the U.S. and other countries have gone far with such adoption.

Two of China’s top automobile companies, Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd. and BAIC Blue Valley Magna Automotive Co., Ltd., submitted applications for permits to use L3-level conditional autonomous driving vehicles for commercial purposes. The authorities granted a conditional permit after thorough scrutiny. Which marks a milestone in adoption of autonomous vehicles.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology formulated a work plan, compiled guidance documents, and organized an expert team preliminary review, selection, testing, and safety assessments. Which both companies have completed and passed successfully.

As the next step, the two vehicle models will be piloted on public roads in designated areas with strengthened vehicle operation monitoring and safety assurance. Results obtained will be used for further development of the country’s intelligent connected new energy vehicle industry.

China’s Push Beyond Autonomous Technology

China may be slightly behind in the adoption of autonomous driving technology. Although it has made much progress in other aspects of technology. In the area of artificial intelligence, the country has made great progress, with its latest ambition being to build a space data center 800km above the earth.

The country is also getting close to building structures on the moon using what it calls lunar soil bricks. A lot of research has gone into this and Chinese astronaauts are only a few decisions away from erecting critical infrastructure on the surface of the moon.