New standards issued that govern self-driving car road tests

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has introduced tentative standards governing road tests of intelligent vehicles, according to Xinhua. The standards, released on Thursday, include explicit requirement for testing organizations, drivers, and the vehicles.

Under the new standards, provincial and municipal-level departments are allowed to independently pick test roads, manage applications for vehicle testing, and grant license plates for test vehicles. More self-driving vehicles are expected to be tested on public roads as a result of the new rules.

A Baidu self-driving vehicle is tested on a public road in Beijing on March 22, 2018. [File photo: IC]

After an incident in July last year when Beijing police investigated the unapproved use of a self-driving car by Baidu on a public road, authorities have been responding to increasing demand for clearer rules. Beijing authorities gave the green light for road tests of self-driving cars in late 2017, and issued detailed requirements for the tests in February this year.

Baidu started legally testing its autonomous vehicles in Beijing last month, when the company was granted the first municipal approval for self-driving car test on public roads.