Volkswagen receives permit in China to test Level 3 system — Electrek
Volkswagen Group China has received permission to test a Level 3 (L3) automated driving system on public roads in Hefei, China. Testing has already begun, and the permit also provides for large-scale collection of data on vehicle traffic in the city.
This was reported by Electrek. Volkswagen said the permit was issued under China’s requirements for L3 systems, and that the technical solution complies with the country’s new mandatory safety standards.
Development for the Chinese market
Hefei is home to Volkswagen China Technology Company, the group’s largest research and development center outside Germany. The city also hosts the Volkswagen Anhui production site.
The software for the system is being developed by CARIZON, Volkswagen’s China-based unit specializing in intelligent driving, which began as a joint venture between CARIAD and Horizon Robotics. The driver assistance system is called Hyper Sense 8. Volkswagen describes it as its first ADAS system covering the full range of road scenarios.
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The company is also developing its own GAIA 2.0 environment model. According to Volkswagen, it enables simulations equivalent to 5 million km of safety testing per day, using approximately 30 million segments of real road situations. The company plans to increase this figure to 10 million km per day in the future.
Goal: L3 readiness by 2027
Volkswagen expects to make its L3 technology ready for the Chinese market by 2027. In July, Volkswagen, CARIZON and Horizon Robotics announced deeper cooperation and targeted the start of deliveries of vehicles with L3 systems in the second half of 2027.
The permit in Hefei applies only to road testing, not to the sale of vehicles equipped with an L3 system. In December 2025, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology approved the country’s first L3 models for sale: a Changan sedan limited to 50 km/h on designated expressways in Chongqing, and a BAIC Arcfox sedan limited to 80 km/h on three routes in Beijing.
