Gasgoo Munich- On Sept. 19, at the 2026 International Forum (TEDA) on Chinese Automotive Industry Development, Zhang Xiaoyu — chief scientist of China Changan Automobile Group and executive vice president of Changan Automobile Co., Ltd. — stated that Level 3 autonomous driving will achieve mass production in 2027, with commercial operations for Level 4 systems beginning in 2028.Image Source: 2026 TEDA Automotive ForumCiting forecasts from the "2025 Urban NOA ADAS Research Report" by a think tank under the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, Zhang noted that the penetration rate of domestic L2 driver-assistance systems is expected to climb to 66.1% by the end of 2025. The rapid adoption of smart driving, he argued, is an inevitable trajectory for global technology.That timeline dovetails with regulatory moves. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's mandatory national standard on safety requirements for autonomous driving systems — approved in July — takes effect on July 1, 2027. The rule establishes a unified safety threshold for L3 and L4 vehicles.On the technology front, Changan secured the nation's first dedicated license plate for L3 autonomous driving in December 2025, followed by an L4 Robotaxi testing permit in March 2026. That progress puts the automaker in a position to advance both tiers simultaneously. He Gang, a vice president at Changan, previously disclosed that the company has poured more than 60 billion yuan into its "CHANGAN SDA Pilot" smart-driving technology, backed by a 7,500-strong R&D team. He predicts that by around 2028, only five or six competitive smart-driving solution providers will survive in China — though he noted that view is his own.
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