A self-driving bus is seen in Xiong"an New Area, North China"s Hebei Province, on March 20, 2026. Photo: Xinhua

　　China released a mandatory national standard for autonomous driving system safety on Tuesday, which will take effect on July 1, 2027. It aims to establish a unified safety baseline for level 3 and level 4 autonomous driving systems, regulate technology development, enhance road safety, strengthen corporate responsibility, and support the industry"s healthy and sustainable growth.

　　This move came as China"s intelligent connected vehicle sector is accelerating from technology validation toward larger-scale application. The new standard will build a comprehensive safety framework tailored to China"s industry needs and regulatory realities while balancing technical feasibility and practical implementation, analysts said.

　　The standard applies to M- and N-category vehicles equipped with level 3 (conditional automation where the car drives itself under specific limits but needs a ready drive) and level 4 (high automation handling all tasks within set areas without any driver) systems. It does not cover automated parking systems, according to the "Intelligent and Connected Vehicles - Safety Requirements for Automated Driving Systems" released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Tuesday.

　　It reinforces the autonomous driving system"s ability to perform the dynamic driving task - the safety performance must at least match that of a competent and attentive human driver and must not pose unreasonable risks to users or other road users. Clear requirements are set for various scenarios and for the triggering and execution of minimum-risk strategies, read the MIIT document.