Volkswagen and Xpeng have won approval to run higher levels of self-driving on public roads in China. VW has started Level 3 road tests in Hefei. Xpeng can now run Level 4 robotaxi services across Guangzhou.
Both companies announced the approvals on Monday. Volkswagen Group China said on Weibo that it had received an L3 road-test licence in Hefei. It has begun testing and collecting data on real roads there. It is aiming for L3 technology readiness in 2027.
Ralf Brandstätter, who runs the group’s China business, added a comment under the post, in TNW’s translation from Chinese:
“We will never push technological progress at the expense of safety,” Brandstätter wrote. “The L3 test qualification lets us test in real traffic in Hefei and collect data at scale.”
VW will hold its first China technology day in Hefei on 28 October.
Xpeng’s robotaxis go public
Xpeng said in a WeChat post that its robotaxi service, Xpeng Yoyo, now qualifies for Level 4 demonstration operations citywide. That moves the service beyond technical testing towards real operations. Riders will get access through invitation codes at first, with coverage widening step by step.
Xpeng built the robotaxi on its GX SUV. It runs on four of its own Turing AI chips, rated at 3,000 TOPS. Xpeng plans to act as a technology supplier rather than run large fleets itself. It says it is in talks with several European ride-hailing platforms.
Xpeng aims to carry passengers without safety drivers in 2027. Chief executive He Xiaopeng set that target in August, as Phate Zhang reported for CnEVPost.
A thaw after the Wuhan incident
The approvals suggest regulators have moved past this year’s Baidu robotaxi incident in Wuhan, according to Bloomberg. China suspended new robotaxi licences in April and launched a safety review across the industry.
Approvals resumed in July, with Momenta among the first to receive one, Bloomberg reported. Few other companies have said publicly that they have the green light. Momenta opened its Hong Kong IPO in June.
Baidu’s Apollo Go has meanwhile won Level 4 approval in Switzerland.
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