China sets 2030 deadline for nationwide self-driving cars

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and eight other departments published an industrial plan that sets a 2030 deadline for the mass rollout of self-driving vehicles across China.

The plan requires highly automated driving systems to operate reliably on expressways, urban express roads and selected city streets and seeks large-scale adoption during the country’s next five-year economic cycle.

The document ties the deployment timetable to rules on safety, liability and insurance and calls for measures to build public trust in autonomous driving technology.

Beijing asks that automated systems deliver safety outcomes that exceed human drivers by a wide margin and requests clearer rules on responsibility and insurance for automated functions.

The plan also aims to expand China’s role in international technical standards for automated driving. China led drafting of the first global technical regulation for automated driving systems, which regulators adopted in June, and the roadmap asks for greater influence over standards by 2030.

The document sets fuel efficiency and energy targets for vehicles. Passenger cars should average 3.3 liters per 100 kilometers. Battery-electric models are targeted to use about 11.5 kilowatt-hours per 100 kilometers. New energy vehicles are required to reach 70% of new passenger car sales and 40% of new commercial vehicle sales by 2030; new energy models accounted for 60.6% of the market in August.

For the first time in a national auto plan, Beijing included warnings and controls on excess industrial capacity. The plan encourages mergers and cross-province consolidation after capacity utilization fell to roughly 70% in the first quarter.

The roadmap names several Chinese automakers among the global top 10 by sales as priorities and asks that Chinese parts makers enter the global top 100. It sets a labor productivity target of a 15% increase relative to 2025 and presses suppliers to scale up and expand overseas.

The plan establishes a government-backed timetable for autonomous vehicle development and deployment across manufacturers, suppliers and regulators. Officials will monitor whether the policies and support measures used in other technology sectors produce similar outcomes in automotive manufacturing and autonomous driving over the next five years.