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China Leads the Way with Level 3 Autonomous Vehicle License Plates

China Leads the Way with Level 3 Autonomous Vehicle License Plates

14 January 2026 09:42

On December 23, the Traffic Management Bureau of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau officially issued the first batch of Level 3 autonomous driving license plates to three connected intelligent vehicles in Beijing.

This marks a significant milestone in the development of automotive intelligence in the country, signaling the transition of autonomous vehicles from the testing and demonstration phase to mass production and ushering in the era of Level 3 autonomous driving.

A Beijing traffic management official said that the first batch of three Level 3 autonomous vehicles registered in Beijing have the license plates: 京AA0001Z, 京AA0733Z and 京AA0880Z.

After a series of preliminary tests, these vehicles are currently in the conditional autonomous driving phase. The system can perform dynamic driving tasks under limited conditions , achieving autonomous driving capabilities at a maximum speed of 80 km/h in a single lane on highways and urban expressways .

The traffic management official emphasized that while autonomous driving is possible on limited roads, it is still mandatory for a driver to remain in the seat as a backup in case of emergency.

Currently, the “conditional autonomous driving” function is only available on the Beijing-Taipei Expressway (from Jiugong Xinqiao in Daxing District to the Airport North Line Expressway) , the Airport North Line Expressway (from Daqu Nanqiao to the Daxing Airport Expressway) , and the Daxing Airport Expressway (from the South Sixth Ring Road to the Airport North Line Expressway).

On other roads or in other areas, this function will be forcibly disabled by the system.

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