The first batch of L3 level autonomous driving admission and road traffic pilot vehicle companies announced!
On June 4th, the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice titled "Four Departments Orderly Carrying out Pilot Projects for the Access and Road Access of Intelligent Connected Vehicles", announcing the first batch of nine pilot consortia for the access and road access of intelligent connected vehicles, including traditional car companies and new forces in the automotive industry, covering three categories: passenger cars, passenger cars, and trucks.
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
It is reported that these 9 car companies are BYD, NIO, Changan, GAC, SAIC, BAIC Blue Valley, FAW, SAIC Hongyan, and Yutong Bus. The first batch of pilot cities are distributed in 7 places, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chongqing, Zhengzhou, and Danzhou, Hainan.
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
Prior to this, the L3 level autonomous driving license plates obtained by car companies were limited to the testing stage, but this time entering the pilot list means that after passing the testing, mass-produced products can be developed.
It is worth noting that this list does not cover car companies that have previously obtained L3 test licenses, such as Mercedes Benz, BMW, etc. In addition, companies like Tesla and Xiaopeng are also excluded from the list.
The list includes 9 car companies, Huawei and Xiaopeng are not among them
Specifically, among the 9 car companies, there are 7 passenger car companies, namely FAW, SAIC, GAC, Changan, BAIC Blue Valley, BYD, and NIO, and 1 truck and bus company each, namely SAIC Hongyan and Yutong Bus.
The pilot qualification is not obtained by individual car companies, but by a "consortium" formed by one car company corresponding to one user. Simply put, automobile manufacturing companies are responsible for production and manufacturing, and then hand it over to the user for testing or operation.
Taking SAIC Group as an example, the user in the list is Shanghai Saike Chuxing Technology Service Co., Ltd., which is an Internet service platform invested by SAIC Group.
The reporter found that only NIO on the list has no affiliated travel company, and the user is still Shanghai NIO Automotive Co., Ltd. (NIO R&D headquarters). Some people believe that the NIO "Intelligent Connected Vehicle" pilot product may be closer to the L3 level and closer to the C-end.
From the announcement of users, it can be found that most of them are ride hailing platforms under the umbrella of car companies, such as the six users on the list, namely Chelian Technology, Dongchao Chuxing, Qichen Technology, Saike Chuxing, Beijing Chuxing, and FAW Chuxing, all of which are ride hailing platforms.
Some argue that this may indicate that the initial focus for L3 level autonomous driving in China will be on To B ride hailing, with Robotaxi accounting for a larger proportion.
In response to this, the automotive industry has provided confirmation. Zhiji Automobile told the Daily Economic News reporter, "Zhiji Automobile will cooperate with Saike Intelligence to build a vehicle grade Robotaxi technology architecture and end-to-end autonomous driving technology stack, and take the lead in promoting unmanned and commercial applications in Lingang."
It is also worth noting that Huawei and Xiaopeng Motors did not appear on the list released this time. It is reported that the pilot list is a consortium composed of "automobile production enterprises" and "transportation enterprises", and currently Huawei and Xiaopeng Motors do not have independent ride hailing platforms.
In addition, according to the previously released Notice on Pilot Work for the Access and Road Traffic of Intelligent Connected Vehicles, intelligent connected vehicles refer to L3 level driving automation (conditional autonomous driving) and L4 level driving automation (highly autonomous driving) defined in the national standard GB/T 40429-2021. Both Tesla FSD and Xiaopeng XNGP are currently L2 level advanced assisted driving, which is not within the scope of this L3 and L4 pilot. Meanwhile, Tesla FSD has not yet been officially launched in China, which does not meet the actual road testing requirements.
Selected list does not equal mass production on the road
According to People's Daily Online, the first batch of conditional autonomous driving (L3 level) highway road test licenses in China were officially issued by the end of last year, including multiple car companies such as BMW, Mercedes Benz, Avita, Deep Blue, and Celes. However, BMW and Mercedes Benz, which first announced the progress of L3 level autonomous driving, are not on the list.
Regarding this point, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has provided an interpretation in the Q&A on the pilot work of intelligent connected vehicle access and road traffic. Enterprises obtaining L3 test licenses are mainly used in the product development process. By conducting actual road tests, the safety of products in actual road traffic operating environments is verified. Adequate product development testing and verification are important foundations for subsequent product mass production applications and also important foundations for this pilot project.
Therefore, it is believed that all "license plate" recipients, including BMW and Mercedes Benz, have already submitted pilot applications, but only these 9 have been approved. However, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also stated that car companies that have not been approved or have not yet applied can resubmit at any time without setting a "validity period" limit.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology emphasized in the Q&A on the Pilot Work of Intelligent Connected Vehicle Access and Road Traffic that currently these nine consortia are only completing the selection stage of the pilot application, and do not mean that intelligent connected vehicles with autonomous driving functions have obtained access permits or are allowed to go on the road.
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology
The announcement clearly states that the admission and road access pilot for intelligent connected vehicles are divided into five stages, namely pilot application, product admission pilot, road access pilot, pilot suspension and withdrawal, evaluation and adjustment. This time, only the formal screening has been completed, and there are still four remaining stages.
For example, the pilot program for product admission includes two stages: product admission testing and safety assessment, and product admission licensing.
Automobile production enterprises entering the pilot program should refine and improve their product admission testing and safety assessment plans. After confirmation by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Public Security, they should carry out product admission product testing and safety assessment work under the supervision of provincial competent departments and government departments of cities where vehicles operate.
After passing the evaluation and meeting the mandatory inspection requirements for road motor vehicle products, the automobile production enterprise shall submit a product admission application to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Even after passing, there are still restrictive measures such as entry validity period and implementation area.
An autonomous driving research and development personnel told reporters, "Although there are currently 9 consortia, it may not necessarily be 9 in the pilot phase of road traffic, and there may be players who are brushed off."
As for the approval of nine automobile enterprises and affiliated companies to pass the pilot project, the insiders told the reporter: "The main reason is that the regulatory authorities have begun to actively promote the mass production of L3/L4 automatic driving. The process of the landing of high-level automatic driving in China may start, but there are still many challenges before the real landing of L3/L4 (autonomous vehicle)."
"The maturity of technical solutions is a prerequisite, but user acceptance is another important aspect, such as automatic parking in parking lots and autonomous driving in enclosed parks. Essentially, the technical solutions are similar, but from the perspective of user psychological acceptance, the former is bound to be faster than the latter. How to make users accept and willing to pay for this part of the market education is a challenge for industry players."