The first batch of Level 3 "true autonomous driving" vehicles in the country is coming. You can take your hands off the wheel on highways and take a break in traffic jams, but how should the rights and responsibilities be divided? Experts provide answers.

“Autonomous vehicles, which used to only appear in science fiction movies, are now really going to be commercially available,” said Mr. Huang, a car owner in Shanghai, quite happily. As someone who has to drive long distances every weekend, he has always longed for a more relaxed driving experience. With the introduction of the new policy, his wish may soon come true.

Recently, the release of the “Work Plan for Steady Growth of the Automobile Industry (2025 - 2026)” (hereinafter referred to as the “Plan”) has attracted wide attention in the industry. The information that “conditionally approve the production access of L3 - level vehicles” has especially sparked a huge wave. This means that car owners like Mr. Huang may soon experience the convenience of L3 - level autonomous driving.

However, experts remind that the relevant technologies still need to be verified, and the liability definition is not yet clear. L3 - level autonomous driving still faces great challenges in practical applications.

“Once there are policies for L3 - level vehicles, they can be put into use on the market, and consumers can start using them. Only by using them can we promote the further development of China's autonomous driving technology and make it safer,” said Dong Yang, the former executive vice - president and secretary - general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers and the co - chairman of the China Automobile Chip Industry Innovation Strategic Alliance, in an interview with a reporter from NBD. He believes this is a good thing for the development of China's automobile industry.

According to the “Classification of Automobile Driving Automation”, L3 - level autonomous driving belongs to conditional autonomous driving. Simply put, under specific conditions and scenarios, L3 - level autonomous driving allows the driver to take their hands off the wheel completely, but the driver still needs to be ready to take back control of the vehicle at any time.

Image source: Official website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

“Especially on the highway, the vehicle can follow the car in front, avoid obstacles, and change lanes on its own. I don't have to keep my eyes on the road all the time, and I can take a break during traffic jams,” said Miss Chen, who has to drive to work for an hour every day. She is also looking forward to the implementation of the above - mentioned policy.

Technically, most car companies have revealed that they can basically achieve L3 - level autonomous driving technology. The reasons why it is difficult to implement are more focused on issues such as infrastructure construction, policies and regulations, and liability definition.

“When will L3 - level autonomous vehicles on the market be truly launched? How safe and reliable is the technology of L3 - level autonomous driving? How is the liability for L3 - level autonomous driving specifically divided? What requirements are there for car owners? Do they need to receive training to drive? Are there any restrictions on the driving routes? What will the vehicle do if the car owner fails to take over in time?” Miss Chen still has many questions in her mind. To answer these questions, the reporter interviewed several industry experts and car company executives.

1. A batch of “L3 - level vehicles” are ready to go. Can users drive them with confidence?

You don't have to wait too long to buy an L3 - level autonomous vehicle that can “drive itself”. Currently, the race for L3 - level autonomous driving in the automobile industry has begun. Consumers may be able to buy L3 - level autonomous vehicles one after another in the fourth quarter of this year.

In February this year, He Xiaopeng, the chairman of XPeng Motors, announced that an L3 - level autonomous driving software would be launched by the end of the year, which requires a several - fold increase in the vehicle's hardware in terms of chip computing power and storage.

In March, GAC Group announced that it would mass - produce and launch its first L3 - level autonomous driving passenger car in the fourth quarter of this year, and more L3 - level autonomous driving products will be launched next year.

Also in March, Chery Automobile released the “Falcon Intelligent Driving” intelligent solution, which mentioned that it would be the first to achieve the mass production of L3 - level autonomous driving technology in vehicles in 2026. In April, VOYAH said that its first model (code - named Taishan) equipped with the L3 platform would be released within this year.

Subsequently, Yu Chengdong, the executive director of Huawei and the chairman of the Consumer BG, said in May that Huawei ADS 4 would achieve the commercialization of high - speed L3 - level autonomous driving in the fourth quarter of this year, and achieve high - speed/urban low - speed L4 - level autonomous driving after 2026.

In addition, Geely's ZEEKR, Changan Automobile, Jianghuai Automobile Group, SERES, etc. have also successively put forward the goal of achieving L3 - level autonomous driving, and the time points are basically concentrated from this year to next year.

Zhou Lin, the chief technology officer of SERES Group, told the reporter that the company has been working on the (L3 - level) technology for a long time, but L3 - level vehicles need production access. “Currently, the company is also actively preparing for the relevant access work.”

“This year may become the first year of intelligent L3 - level autonomous driving. There will definitely be intelligent L3 - level autonomous driving models before the end of the year. Especially for luxury products, if they don't have L3 - level autonomous driving, consumers will have little desire to buy,” said Feng Xingya, the chairman and general manager of GAC Group, in an interview with a reporter from NBD.

“Our current vehicles have a lot of redundancy in ‘braking’ and ‘steering’, all of which are aimed at L3 - level. Although many L3 - level hardware will not be installed in the vehicles, considerations have been made for L3 - level installation at the architecture, execution, and algorithm levels,” said Cao Xudong, the CEO of Momenta, indicating that its L3 - level autonomous driving technology is on the way.

With a series of L3 - level autonomous vehicles about to be launched, does it mean that these vehicles are “fully mature” and consumers can use them with confidence after buying?

Yang Weibin, an expert in new energy vehicles and power batteries, said bluntly that whether the (L3 - level) standard can be reached must be verified through tests. Currently, car companies have only conducted partial working condition tests, which cannot prove that all working conditions can be passed. In the test results, such as the highway test of avoiding a flying pig crossing on the Dongchedi platform, most vehicles, including Tesla, failed, indicating that there are still many areas that need improvement.

In Yang Weibin's view, the “stumbling block” for L3 - level autonomous driving models to be truly sold to ordinary consumers on a large scale and achieve commercialization is the safety and reliability of the technology. Only after a large number of tests and demonstration tests and the verification of safety and reliability can L3 - level vehicles be applied in batches.

2. From “you drive the car” to “the car takes you”. Who is responsible if an accident occurs?

For ordinary car owners, the difference between L2 and L3 - level autonomous driving is not just the difference in the numbers “2” and “3”. It is a key leap from “the vehicle helps you drive” to “the vehicle drives itself”, and a revolutionary leap from “driving assistance” to “liability transfer”.

To guide the standardized research, development, and application of driving automation technology, the Ministry of Science and Technology announced the “Ethical Guidelines for the Research and Development of Driving Automation Technology” (hereinafter referred to as the “Guidelines”) on July 23.

Image source: Official website of the Ministry of Science and Technology

The “Guidelines” clearly state that the Level 2 driving automation (combined driving assistance) system continuously performs the vehicle's lateral and longitudinal motion control in the dynamic driving task under its designed operating conditions and has the ability to detect and respond to some targets and events corresponding to the vehicle's lateral and longitudinal motion control it performs; the Level 3 driving automation (conditional autonomous driving) system continuously performs the entire dynamic driving task under its designed operating conditions.

In short, the L2 - level assisted driving that consumers often encounter at present is that on suitable roads (such as highways), the vehicle can help maintain the lane, follow the car in front, accelerate and decelerate, and also sense some obstacles ahead and respond. However, the core driving responsibility still lies with the user.

On the other hand, L3 - level is “the vehicle takes care of the whole process”. In designed scenarios such as specific highway sections, everything from controlling the direction, adjusting the speed, to sensing the road conditions and dealing with normal situations is done by the vehicle, without the need for the user to operate manually all the time.

Yang Weibin told the reporter that the difference between L2 and L3 - level is that the former emphasizes assistance, while the latter emphasizes automation. “Currently, China's intelligent driving technology is still at the L2 - level stage,” Yang Weibin explained. From assistance to automation, a lot of development work needs to be done on hardware, software, and test testing.

Yu Kai, the founder and CEO of Horizon Robotics, believes that L3 - level is an intelligent driving product with L4 - level capabilities within a clear ODD (Operational Design Domain) boundary, and superimposed with L2 - level full - scenario assisted driving functions. He emphasized that “to achieve L3 - level, a large number of L2 - level full - scenario assisted driving system vehicles need to be deployed, and a large amount of actual road data need to be fully verified. Finally, based on a large amount of real - vehicle data, a clear - boundary ODD is locked and necessary system redundancy is added to prove that it has L4 - level capabilities.”

For ordinary consumers, they may be more concerned about the issue of liability definition than the technical differences. In Yang Weibin's view, with the obvious growth of the penetration rate of electrification and intelligence in the market, how to divide the liability subject of driving automation technology has become an issue that must be solved for the promotion of China's automation technology.

In this regard, the “Guidelines” give a clear answer: For Level 2 and below driving automation, the liability subject is usually the human driver; for limited - stage autonomous driving, including Level 3 and Level 4 driving automation, the liability subject varies according to the specific operating scenario, and both the user and the autonomous driving system may become the liability subject.

Hou Fushen, the vice - chairman and secretary - general of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, said that the opening of the production access for L3 - level vehicles involves some laws and regulations in traffic safety management. The automobile industry needs a very close cooperation mechanism with departments such as public security and transportation. Therefore, “the opening of the production access for L3 - level vehicles still needs a process.”

The “Plan” also clearly states that L3 - level vehicle production access will be conditionally approved to promote the improvement of laws and regulations on road traffic safety and insurance.

This means that when L3 - level autonomous vehicles are truly in the hands of ordinary consumers, the relevant rules regarding “how to drive and what to do in case of an accident” will be further clarified.

3. You can't “let go” on all roads. There are still challenges in practical applications

“In the actual driving process, the road markings in some areas are not very clear, and the road facilities are not perfect enough, which makes it difficult for intelligent vehicles to recognize,” said Mr. Huang, mentioning the infrastructure problems he encountered during actual driving. He is worried that with the arrival of L3 - level autonomous driving, this problem will become more prominent. “After all, L2 - level is just assisted driving, and you can take over and correct at any time. But L3 - level is system - dominated driving. If there are problems with the infrastructure, in the worst - case scenario, it may cause safety risks. In the best - case scenario, the function may suddenly fail, and you need to take over urgently.”

In fact, L3 - level autonomous driving still faces great challenges in practical applications.

Zhu Xichan, a professor at the School of Automotive Engineering of Tongji University and the director of the Automotive Safety Technology Research Institute, previously said in an interview with a reporter from NBD that in the initial stage, car companies will narrow the ODD (Operational Design Domain) for L3 - level autonomous driving certification to a very small range, which means that the autonomous driving function will be enabled under very limited conditions, such as specific roads and environments.

This is also the reason why many cities in China currently divide specific areas and roads for L3 - level autonomous driving tests first.

For example, in Shanghai's Pudong New Area this year, a total of 583 roads, covering 758.62 kilometers, were designated as the third batch of open - test ground roads for autonomous driving. Among them, 238 roads, covering 329.10 kilometers, were opened in the Zhangjiang area; 261 roads, covering 340.70 kilometers, were opened in the Expo area; and 84 roads, covering 88.82 kilometers, were opened in the Huamu area.

Image source: Official website of Shanghai One - Stop Service

“For car owners, it is not advisable to use L3 - level autonomous driving outside the designated roads. Once an accident or danger occurs, the liability will be determined according to the actual situation. Of course, if there are some unexpected situations during driving and the car owner fails to take over in time, whether the vehicle should slowly stop on the side of the road or drive at a reduced speed needs to be considered according to the actual situation. Moreover, the tuning styles of different car companies for autonomous driving are different, and it is difficult to unify the standards,” said a technical staff member of a joint - venture car company.

In addition, L3 - level autonomous driving also requires the road to have high - precision positioning signal coverage (such as Beidou - 3 differential signals), real - time coordination (C - V2X communication) between roadside sensing devices (millimeter - wave radar, lidar, high - definition cameras) and the vehicle, and the ability to update the dynamic high - precision map on a minute - level basis, so that the system can accurately identify complex road conditions such as temporary construction and sudden accidents.

To meet the requirements of L3 - level autonomous driving for road and other infrastructure, the policy level is also actively supporting it.

This year, the “Regulations on Autonomous Vehicles in Beijing”, the “Regulations on Promoting the Development of Intelligent Connected Vehicles in Wuhan”, and the “Action Plan for Shenzhen to Accelerate the Creation of an AI Pioneer City (2025 - 2026)” have been successively released, indicating that passenger cars are starting to transition from L2 - level to L3 - level and above autonomous driving. As of now, more than 50 cities have introduced pilot demonstration policies for autonomous driving or formulated local regulations related to autonomous driving.

It is worth noting that while local governments are actively promoting the implementation of L3 - level applications, the national level is also improving the regulatory framework simultaneously to ensure a balance between technological innovation and safety compliance.

In April this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released an announcement on “The First Department of Equipment Industry held a promotion meeting on the access management of intelligent connected vehicle products and software over - the - air updates”, clearly requiring car companies and suppliers to submit full - life - cycle safety reports for L3 -