The landing of L3 came a bit unexpectedly.

With only two weeks left in 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced on its official website today that it has licensed two L3 level autonomous driving vehicle models, one of which is the Changan SC7000AAARBEV pure electric sedan; One is the BJ7001A61NBEV pure electric sedan from the Jihu brand.

One south and one north, both models are pure electric sedans. According to Zhijia Network, these two models are the Deep Blue SL03 without LiDAR and the Arctic Fox Alpha S6 triple LiDAR version.

China becomes the world's first country to truly scale up and release L3

China has become the second country after Germany to truly release L3, and the two released cars, which have already been launched, also mean that China will become the world's first country to truly release L3 on a large scale.

L3 officially landed: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology releases two L3 level autonomous driving models before the end of 2025

The message for L3 release comes from the Equipment Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the full text is as follows:

Recently, two automobile companies, Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd. and BAIC Blue Valley Magna Automobile Co., Ltd., submitted applications to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology for the admission of intelligent connected vehicle products equipped with L3 level conditional autonomous driving functions. According to relevant regulations such as the "Management Measures for the Admission of Road Motor Vehicle Production Enterprises and Products", after acceptance, review, public announcement and other procedures, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology conditionally approved the relevant products in the 401st batch of "Announcement".

One is the Changan brand SC7000AAARBEV pure electric sedan, which can achieve autonomous driving function in the single lane of highways and urban expressways in traffic congestion environments (with a maximum speed of 50km/h). Currently, this function is only available on Chongqing Inner Ring Expressway, New Inner Ring Expressway (Gaotanyan Overpass Laijiaqiao Overpass), Yudu Avenue (Renhe Overpass Airport Overpass) and other sections.

The second type is the BJ7001A61NBEV pure electric sedan from the Jihu brand, which can achieve autonomous driving function within a single lane on highways and urban expressways (with a maximum speed of 80km/h). Currently, this function is only available on sections of Beijing's Jingtai Expressway (Jiugongxinqiao Airport North Line Expressway in Daxing District), Airport North Line Expressway (Daqu Nanqiao Daxing Airport Expressway), and Daxing Airport Expressway (South Sixth Ring Road Airport North Line Expressway).

The news from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology can be described as a shock heard silently, pushing China's intelligent automotive industry into a new stage.

Several key pieces of information were revealed in this message:

1、 The current L3 liberalization still has an experimental nature: limited to specific cities, Changan related models can only be used on specific routes in Chongqing; The extreme fox related models are limited to the Beijing route, and neither model can be opened in other cities or routes;

2、 The landing of L3 adopted an asymptotic route: firstly, it was opened up in the scenarios of highways and urban expressways. In a certain sense, both the expressway L3 and the urban expressway L3 have been opened simultaneously.

3、 Similar to adaptive cruise control, it has not yet reached the NOA standard: both models only allow the autonomous driving function to be turned on within a single lane, do not allow automatic lane changes, and there is still a distance to the highway NOA;

4、 The ODD conditions vary in different cities: the speed limit for Changan related vehicles in Chongqing is no more than 50 kilometers per hour; the speed limit for Arctic Fox related vehicles on specific routes in Beijing is 80 kilometers per hour.

This is similar to the conditions for releasing L3 in Germany:

1、 Approved autonomous driving vehicles can be driven on 13191 kilometers of highways throughout Germany;

2、 The maximum speed shall not exceed 60 km/h.

From this perspective, it seems that the release of L3 is not enough to quench thirst, and there is still a distance to go from the point-to-point assisted driving of many models claiming to be high-speed NOAs.

But once the first step of the Long March is taken, a new automotive ecosystem will be overturned: this is the first time that L3 is allowed to be legally liberalized in a way that car companies are responsible for, and the era of autonomous driving has officially arrived.

Fu Bingfeng, Executive Vice President and Secretary General of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said: "L3 level autonomous driving vehicle products have obtained licenses, and intelligent connected vehicles have entered a new stage of mass production and application. ”

He said: "The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has officially approved Chang'an and Jihu L3 automatic driving models with conditions, and China's autonomous vehicle industry is accelerating from 'technical verification' to a new stage of 'mass production application'. This not only reflects the development of technology, but also a vivid practice of the country's coordinated high-quality development and high-level security, safeguarding the safe landing of cutting-edge technologies with inclusive and prudent supervision, and stimulating industrial innovation vitality. ”

The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers stated in its published article that the conditional release of L3 also reflects three characteristics:

1、 System first, building a "protective barrier" for safe development

In terms of top-level design, it is led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in conjunction with public security, transportation, housing and other departments, to establish a dual track mechanism of "product access+road access", jointly formulate rules and conduct parallel reviews, and set a clear safety baseline for the industry, leaving enough space for innovation. This release allows products that meet the standards to undergo market inspection, unleashing the benefits of mass production applications with "laws to follow and roads to run", and implementing the overall idea of "system first, pilot breaking the ice, and hierarchical promotion".

2、 Industrial synergy, activating the "symbiotic ecology" of the entire chain

The implementation of L3 level autonomous driving is a systematic project that involves the collaboration of multiple entities, including the entire vehicle, components, software algorithms, communication, and data services. The policy requires enterprises to establish a full lifecycle management system covering the entire vehicle, system, data, operation, etc., to promote the shift of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain from "supply relationship" to "symbiotic relationship".

This release is an important step taken by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments under the widespread attention and high expectations of society, which will drive the development of derivative industries such as new travel and new insurance, and accelerate the formation of a safe, efficient, integrated and open industrial ecosystem.

3、 Enterprise practice, daring to be the "vanguard" of high-quality development

Automobile companies that have obtained licenses for autonomous driving vehicle models should play a leading role in demonstration, while maintaining open channels for application and admission, and promoting orderly progress in accordance with the principle of "one mature, one licensed". Enterprises should take this as an opportunity to actively assume their main responsibilities. We must strictly adhere to the safety bottom line, continuously polish the technological maturity and improve safety verification in the process of intelligent connected vehicle access and road traffic pilot; Secondly, we need to strengthen data governance, establish and improve data security and network security management systems, and ensure data traceability and controllable risks; Thirdly, we need to explore commercial closed loops, actively explore sustainable business models while ensuring safety, and accumulate valuable experience for subsequent scale promotion and application.

This means that in the future, with the maturity and permission of one, more car models will be allowed to be driven on the road in the form of L3 autonomous driving.

Why Deep Blue SL03 and Arctic Fox Alpha S6

And now the question is, why did Chang'an and Jihu become the first people to eat crabs?

According to multiple confirmations from Zhijia Network, these two L3 trial models are the Deep Blue SL03 and the Extreme Fox Alpha S6 triple LiDAR version.

The two models, one without a laser radar and the other with three laser radars and multiple sensing redundancy, have very strict ODD conditions for the release of L3 due to their differences in configuration.

According to multiple confirmations from Zhijia Network to relevant personnel of Deep Blue Automobile, the Changan brand SC7000AAARBEV pure electric sedan referred to by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is indeed the Deep Blue S03 model under the Deep Blue brand.

The Deep Blue SL03 is indeed one of the first models to enter the L3 level autonomous driving admission and testing license list in July this year.

The Deep Blue S03 2025 pure electric sports model, which was launched this year, is the high-end pure electric version of the vehicle. It features a monocular 2-megapixel front facing camera, four 1-megapixel surround view cameras, six ultrasonic radars, and three millimeter wave radars.

The official introduction states that it has L2 level full speed adaptive cruise control and road traffic sign recognition capabilities.

Sharp eyed readers should notice that this is a car model without a LiDAR, and its intelligent driving system is independently developed by Changan.

Zhijia Network confirmed to Su Linke, the General Manager of Software Development at Deep Blue Automotive, today that this year's Deep Blue SL03, which has already been launched, can be driven on relevant roads in Chongqing in the form of L3 autonomous driving.

L3 officially landed: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology releases two L3 level autonomous driving models before the end of 2025

In a press release released by Changan Automobile, it was stated that "relying on the self-developed technology system of 'Tianshu Intelligence', Changan Automobile has accumulated experience in the design and development, testing and verification, production and operation, and continuous iteration of L3 level autonomous driving, and has accumulated leading management and system capabilities, laying an important foundation for China's automotive industry to enter mass production and application of autonomous driving. ”

There have been rumors that the L3 model that has been approved for use on the road may be the Deep Blue L06. The Deep Blue L06 first appeared in the 398th batch of new car application catalogs of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology this year and was officially launched on November 18th, positioned as a "long range magnetorheological laser intelligent coupe".

The car is equipped with a laser radar as standard across the entire range, with two Journey J6M chips and 256TOPS computing power. It supports urban NCA and high-speed NCA navigation assistance, full field parking assistance, and remote parking functions.

The intelligent driving algorithm adopts Horizon's end-to-end HSD300 segment; However, according to Zhijia Network, the relevant suppliers have explicitly denied that the Deep Blue L06 has obtained L3 access.

▲ Route for Release of L3 in Chongqing

However, it can be confirmed that the model of the Arctic Fox is the mid to large sedan Arctic Fox Alpha S6 triple LiDAR version, which is equipped with Huawei Qiankun Intelligent Driving ADS 4.

During the Guangzhou Auto Show, Jin Yuzhi, the head of Huawei's automotive BU, stated that Huawei Qiankun Intelligent Driving will officially start commercial use of the L3 highway next year.

L3 officially landed: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology releases two L3 level autonomous driving models before the end of 2025

▲ BAIC New Energy releases L3 admission poster

Now it seems that the policy has come before the predictions of smart driving suppliers.

▲ Route for Beijing to release L3

The bumpy road to L3 admission this year

At the beginning of this year, there was a high demand for the official landing of L3 from all walks of life. However, the admission of L3 was delayed due to various intelligent driving accidents, which to some extent disrupted the promotion rhythm of many products. For example, Xiaopeng launched an intelligent car claiming to have L3 computing power, and Yu Chengdong also stated on multiple occasions, "Someone is dragging the industry down and causing harm. This is a disaster! The standard of this ability in the entire industry cannot be limited by the ability of the worst student

At that time, there were rumors that the intelligent driving accident of three girls driving Xiaomi Su7 on the night of March 29th this year caused a delay in the landing of L3.

However, in fact, the commercialization of L3 has become cautious at the regulatory level, but the pace has not been delayed for too long.

Today in July, the first batch of approved vehicle models and test license plate lists were exposed. More than 10 car manufacturers and over 20 vehicle models obtained test license plates. Changan Automobile became the biggest winner with 17 test license plates. The approved vehicle models include almost all models of the Deep Blue SL03 and Avita. Joint venture brands such as BMW and Mercedes Benz also have models selected.

Subsequently, in September of this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and eight other departments jointly issued the "Work Plan for Stable Growth in the Automotive Industry (2025-2026)", which clearly proposed to "promote the pilot of intelligent connected vehicle access and road traffic, conditionally approve the production access of L3 level vehicle models, and promote the improvement of laws and regulations on road traffic safety, insurance, etc.

In 2021, the mandatory national standard "Automobile and Trailer Light Signal Devices and Systems" jointly issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation and the National Standardization Administration came into effect on July 1 this year. All L3 level and above autonomous vehicles must be equipped with "autonomous driving marker lights", commonly known as "small blue lights".

At this year's Guangzhou Auto Show, models equipped with small blue lights have blossomed everywhere. Surprisingly, Buick was the first joint venture car company to equip and light up the small blue lights.

On November 19th, GAC Group announced that the GAC Haobo A800 model has obtained the first license plate in China to conduct high-speed L3 road tests at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour.

L3 seems to be on the line and has to be fired.

In conclusion

At the end of 2025, L3 came a bit suddenly, but it opened up new imaginative space for China's smart cars.

However, the release of L3 is the responsibility of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology at the product level, but it also involves many functional departments such as the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Transport at the national governance and regulatory level.

The ODD conditions set for L3 admission this time are strict, and the experience is still far from what we imagined for L3. Industry experts have told Zhijia Network that the true L3 standard has not yet been reviewed, and the current release still has experimental nature.

But regardless, a new round of L3 battles is believed to be coming soon.