Full Self-Driving? There’s No Such Thing, Says China
Chinese authorities crack down on automakers that say their cars can drive themselves.
Angus MacKenzieWriter
Full Self-Driving? There’s no such thing, says China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), which has announced tough new regulations covering how automakers develop and market autonomous driving systems in the country.
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Automakers are now not allowed to use terms such as "automatic driving," "autonomous driving," "intelligent driving," or "advanced intelligent driving" in their Chinese marketing materials. Instead, they must describe their systems’ capabilities in terms of the classifications established by the Society of Automotive Engineers’ standard SAE J3016, under which Level 0 means no autonomous capability whatsoever and Level 5 full autonomous capability. And they must strictly adhere to the autonomous level classifications outlined by the standard.
The MIIT has also banned automakers conducting on-road beta testing programs stating that public testing, whether with thousands or tens of thousands of users, must now go through official approval channels. Functions that operate without driver supervision, such as automated valet parking, are now prohibited as well.
The new regulations also mandate that driver monitoring systems cannot be disabled and must detect when drivers remove their hands from the steering wheel. If hands-off detection exceeds 60 seconds, the system must implement risk mitigation strategies such as slowing down, activating hazard lights, or pulling over. The MIIT says the regulations are also intended to reduce frequent over-the-air updates of advanced driver assistance systems. Emergency updates of such systems must now be done by way of a vehicle recall and approved by regulators.
The announcement follows a highly publicized crash in China on March 29 in which three people were killed after the Xiaomi SU7 sedan (pictured above) in which they were riding collided with a concrete barrier post in a construction zone at about 60 mph. The vehicle had been operating in Xiaomi’s NOA (Navigation on Autopilot) intelligent driving assistance mode. Analysis shows the system had reportedly issued an alert and begun slowing before the construction zone, and the driver had taken control and had begun to steer and brake but could not avoid the obstacle.
The new regulations will impact not only Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone and consumer electronics giant whose SU7, launched just last year, is its first ever automobile, but also Chinese automakers and autonomous driving technology leaders such as Xpeng, Li Auto, Nio, and Huawei. Also affected will be Tesla, which in the U.S. has long marketed its buggy and alarmingly inconsistent Level 2 driver assistance system as Full Self-Driving (now with "Supervised" appended to the name) and has routinely conducted beta testing of the technology on public roads.
“Part of the MIIT directive as we read it was a call to action to the OEMs to clean up the communication,” said Mercedes-Benz chairman and CEO Ola Källenius at Auto Shanghai 2025, where Mercedes unveiled a new, AI-powered, point-to-point advanced navigation and Level 2+ driver assistance system that requires drivers only to touch the steering wheel as the vehicle pretty much drives itself through city centers.
“I think that we have for the past 30 years been pretty straightforward to say what we can do and be very clear about what we can't,” said Källenius, who pointed out Mercedes was the first automaker in China approved to conduct Level 3 autonomous driving testing on roads in Beijing. “So, it has not had any major effect on us.”
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated by cars. My father was a mechanic, and some of my earliest memories are of handing him wrenches as he worked to turn a succession of down-at-heel secondhand cars into reliable family transportation. Later, when I was about 12, I’d be allowed to back the Valiant station wagon out onto the street and drive it around to the front of the house to wash it. We had the cleanest Valiant in the world. I got my driver’s license exactly three months after my 16th birthday in a Series II Land Rover, ex-Australian Army with no synchro on first or second and about a million miles on the clock. “Pass your test in that,” said Dad, “and you’ll be able to drive anything.” He was right. Nearly four decades later I’ve driven everything from a Bugatti Veyron to a Volvo 18-wheeler, on roads and tracks all over the world. Very few people get the opportunity to parlay their passion into a career. I’m one of those fortunate few. I started editing my local car club magazine, partly because no-one else would do it, and partly because I’d sold my rally car to get the deposit for my first house, and wanted to stay involved in the sport. Then one day someone handed me a free local sports paper and said they might want car stuff in it. I rang the editor and to my surprise she said yes. There was no pay, but I did get press passes, which meant I got into the races for free. And meet real automotive journalists in the pressroom. And watch and learn. It’s been a helluva ride ever since. I’ve written about everything from Formula 1 to Sprint Car racing; from new cars and trucks to wild street machines and multi-million dollar classics; from global industry trends to secondhand car dealers. I’ve done automotive TV shows and radio shows, and helped create automotive websites, iMags and mobile apps. I’ve been the editor-in-chief of leading automotive media brands in Australia, Great Britain, and the United States. And I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. The longer I’m in this business the more astonished I am these fiendishly complicated devices we call automobiles get made at all, and how accomplished they have become at doing what they’re designed to do. I believe all new cars should be great, and I’m disappointed when they’re not. Over the years I’ve come to realize cars are the result of a complex interaction of people, politics and process, which is why they’re all different. And why they continue to fascinate me.
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