BYD among nine firms allowed to test autonomous driving

BYD Co. is among the first group of nine firms selected to carry out tests on vehicles with advanced level three (L3) autonomous driving technologies on public roads.

The Shenzhen-based firm won the go-ahead from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and three other ministries Tuesday to start road testing of intelligent connected vehicles. 

Firms chosen for the pilot program also include electric vehicle startup NIO Inc. and major State-owned carmakers such as Chongqing Changan Automobile, SAIC Motor, FAW Group and Guangzhou Automobile.

The approval means these firms can test automated driving functions in certain areas in approved cities but they still need to conduct test and safety evaluations before carrying out actual testing on roads, the MIIT said in a statement.

The move is aimed to assess the performance, efficiency and safety of the L3 autonomous driving technologies on actual road conditions, an essential step to roll out more fully autonomous driving vehicles for mass adoption.

It is also part of China's broad efforts to promote smart connected vehicles, which are expected to create multibillion-dollar opportunities for domestic as well as international companies.

Regulators in China have issued new policies to accelerate mass adoption of autonomous driving technologies after allowing companies to carry out city road tests in the past five years.

The MIIT in November issued a notice on a nationwide pilot program on the admission and on-road operation of vehicles equipped with L3 and level four autonomous driving capabilities, a step closer to allowing such vehicles to be sold to and used by individual buyers and fleet operators.

Autonomous driving technologies are generally divided into five levels, with level one being features like cruise control and level five being fully autonomous driving with no human assistance required. 

Currently, many Chinese carmakers sell vehicles with level two self-driving, but drivers are required to keep their hands on the steering wheels. By contrast, drivers in the test vehicles using level three technologies are allowed to take their hands off the steering wheels. 

BYD said in a statement Tuesday that being chosen to conduct road tests is another official “recognition of BYD’s intelligent driving research and development capabilities and technological prowess” after the company secured the country's first L3 autonomous driving test license on highways and expressways in July last year.

BYD received permits to test vehicles with L3 autonomous driving systems on high-speed roads in Shenzhen July 21 last year.

“Being allowed to test for L3 technology is the starting point of autonomous driving,” BYD said in its statement. The approval will “accelerate the transition of autonomous driving technology from the laboratory to industrial applications.  

The Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway-backed firm is world’s largest manufacturer of new energy vehicles and the world’s second-largest electric vehicle battery supplier.