On August 25, a draft amendment to the Road Traffic Safety Law was submitted for its first review at the 24th session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress. The draft introduces a dedicated chapter titled "Special Provisions on Autonomous Driving Vehicles," marking the first time at the national legal level that the legal status of autonomous vehicles, their conditions for road operation, and liability allocation for violations have been clearly defined. This signifies a formal transition for autonomous driving from policy pilot programs and standard specifications into the realm of national legislation.
The dedicated autonomous driving chapter clarifies the definitions of autonomous vehicles and assisted driving functions. It explicitly states that when a traffic safety violation occurs while the autonomous driving function is activated, the vehicle's manufacturer or importer will be responsible for handling the matter. Vehicles with autonomous driving capabilities that operate with the function deactivated, as well as vehicles equipped only with assisted driving features, will continue to be managed under the existing rules for non-autonomous vehicles.
Cui Dongshu, head of the China Passenger Car Association's joint branch, noted that with the rapid increase in L2-level assisted driving penetration—now reaching 65% among new energy passenger vehicles—the lag in laws and regulations has become increasingly prominent. This revision indicates that China's autonomous driving legal framework is shifting from a "patchwork approach" to a "dedicated chapter reconstruction."
Prior to this legislative move, China's autonomous driving policies had been evolving but remained confined to policy documents, national standards, and departmental regulations. In late 2023, four ministries including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice on piloting access and road testing for intelligent connected vehicles, which for the first time designated pilot usage entities as the primary responsible parties for autonomous driving accidents. It also required L3/L4 vehicles to carry special liability insurance of no less than 5 million yuan, transitioning assisted driving insurance from a corporate value-added service to a mandatory safeguard.
On December 15, 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the first batch of L3-level conditional autonomous driving model access permits. Two vehicle models designed for urban congestion segments and highway segments respectively were approved for pilot operations in designated areas of Beijing and Chongqing, marking the official entry of China's L3 autonomous driving from closed testing into the commercial application phase. This August, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology confirmed that the mandatory national standard "Intelligent Connected Vehicles - Safety Requirements for Autonomous Driving Systems" (GB 44721-2026) has been approved for release by the State Administration for Market Regulation and the Standardization Administration, with implementation scheduled for July 1, 2027. This represents China's first mandatory national standard for L3 and L4 autonomous driving, establishing a unified national safety threshold for these vehicle categories.
However, none of these documents constitute national law. The inclusion of autonomous driving in a dedicated chapter of the road traffic safety law amendment fills this legal void, providing a higher-level legal basis for fundamental systems such as road rights, violation handling, and insurance for autonomous vehicles.
According to China's national standard GB/T 40429-2021 on automotive driving automation classification, Level 3 driving automation is defined as "conditional autonomous driving." In L3 mode, the vehicle can autonomously perform all driving tasks—including perception, decision-making, and control—within defined operational design domains such as highways or specific speed ranges. The driver can take their hands off the wheel and eyes off the road, freeing attention from driving tasks. However, when the system encounters scenarios beyond its operational conditions or experiences a malfunction, it will issue a takeover request, and the driver must resume control within a specified timeframe. This fundamentally differs from L2-level combined assisted driving, where the system only executes lateral and longitudinal motion control while the driver must continuously monitor the road and bear full driving responsibility—the system serves merely as a tool.
L3 is thus regarded as a watershed moment: when the system is activated and operating within its design scope, the driving entity shifts from human to system, and liability shifts accordingly. Based on the dedicated chapter, when consumers use legally approved autonomous driving functions, violations occurring with the system activated will no longer be borne by the vehicle owner—provided the vehicle qualifies as compliant autonomous driving equipment and the function is genuinely in use. The many vehicles currently on the market equipped with L2-level assisted driving fall outside this scope; their drivers must remain fully engaged and bear all violation liabilities.
"The most significant impact is drawing a clear line of responsibility. Previously it was 'driver assumes all liability'; now it's 'manufacturer bears responsibility when the system is activated.' The two mandatory national standards previously released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had already established that in L2 mode, the driver bears full responsibility, while in L3 activated mode, the manufacturer holds primary responsibility for system safety. This road traffic safety law revision elevates that liability logic from industry standards to national law, providing legal grounds for traffic accident determination and consumer dispute resolution," Cui Dongshu stated.
Cui believes that in the long run, autonomous driving will be more rule-abiding—it won't change lanes arbitrarily, run red lights, or drive fatigued. The progression from L2 to L4 will achieve full-scenario coverage across urban roads, highways, and parking. Traffic accident rates may decline, and congestion could ease. Additionally, mandatory national standards require clear communication of functional boundaries to users, preventing assisted driving from being mistaken for full autonomy. The road traffic safety law revision will further drive public awareness of the distinction between "assisted driving" and "autonomous driving," reducing safety incidents caused by improper use.
Law enforcement must also evolve. Clear legal responsibility is the precondition for large-scale commercial deployment of L3 autonomous driving. Previously, due to the lack of a higher-level legal basis for determining liability in violations and accidents, manufacturers were generally cautious about mass-producing L3 features. Industry insiders believe this dedicated chapter imposes higher requirements on manufacturers. On one hand, they must ensure accurate recognition and execution of traffic signals, speed limits, and lane markings while the system is activated. On the other hand, boundary scenarios such as "exiting autonomous mode moments before an accident"—a widely discussed concern—will become key issues requiring clarification in regulatory practice.
An expert in autonomous driving technology noted that while intelligent assisted driving systems have advanced rapidly, they are not yet infallible. Manufacturers often emphasize how powerful their systems are in marketing, leading some users to blindly trust assisted driving technology. When delivering products to consumers, manufacturers should thoroughly communicate scenario limitations and usage risks. Furthermore, during the deployment of intelligent assisted driving, there is misleading information that confuses users, resulting in insufficient understanding of L2 and L3 levels. This creates driving safety risks and poses significant dangers to the industry. The arrival of L3 entails not just a shift in liability, but also requires manufacturers to achieve maximum technical redundancy—ensuring the stability of every technology and function, as well as the boundaries of redundancy.
Cui Dongshu argues that after this regulation takes effect, manufacturers can no longer play word games. Products must meet safety standards before entering the market, and responsibility must be clear before vehicles are sold. The regulation's requirement that manufacturers directly bear liability for violations occurring with the system activated will put an end to the practice of using "smart driving" as a marketing gimmick while evading responsibility.
"The addition of the autonomous driving chapter to the road traffic safety law amendment lays the legal foundation for the widespread adoption of autonomous driving. The social dividends released by this institutional reform will be fully realized in two dimensions: addressing an aging population and expanding vehicle penetration. Regarding aging, autonomous driving transforms hundreds of millions of elderly people from those with mobility difficulties into independently mobile individuals—from those needing care to dignified, self-sufficient persons. Regarding vehicle penetration, autonomous driving turns automobiles from 'a driving tool for the few' into 'a mobile space for the many,' propelling China's vehicle ownership per thousand people from around 200 toward even higher levels," Cui Dongshu concluded.