China’s Low-Speed Autonomous Vehicle Industry Set for First National Standard

November 10, Jiading, Shanghai — At the 1st China Low-Speed Autonomous Vehicle Summit Forum and Industry Innovation Alliance Launch Conference, industry insiders revealed that a new national standard for low-speed unmanned vehicles is already taking shape and is expected to be officially released as early as the beginning of next year. The Low-Speed Unmanned Vehicle Industry Innovation Alliance is also set to be formally established in 2024.

In recent years, low-speed unmanned vehicles have achieved strong pilot applications in fields such as logistics delivery, security patrols, and sanitation cleaning, accelerating industry development. In this context, improving regulations and standards to ensure healthy industry growth has become especially important.

The upcoming standard — General Technical Requirements for Low-Speed Drive-by-Wire Chassis — is the first-ever national standard for low-speed unmanned vehicles. It was drafted under the guidance of the National Four-Wheel All-Terrain Vehicle Standardization Technical Committee, led by Tongji University, with participation from over 30 enterprises and institutions, including Songhong Intelligent, Shanghai Automotive Inspection, and the Shanghai Automotive Innovation Platform. The draft has been released on the official national standards website for public comment.

“We expect the standard to be officially issued at the start of next year. This will be the first ‘national referee’ for our industry and will play a positive role in its future development,” said Xiong Lu, Deputy Dean of Tongji University’s School of Automotive Studies.

At the forum, the preparatory group for the Low-Speed Autonomous Vehicle Industry Innovation Alliance was announced, with formal establishment planned for next year.

As one of the fastest-growing companies in this sector, Rino.ai (White Rhino) has already achieved over 100,000 safe deliveries with zero accidents.

“With the support of the new alliance, companies won’t have to fight alone when it comes to technology R&D, standard-setting, or policy advocacy. We can now feed back shared challenges through the alliance and help drive the industry forward,” said Yan Ming, Rino.ai’s Government Affairs Director.

On-site, Rino.ai showcased its low-speed autonomous delivery vehicle.

The event brought together representatives from Tongji University, Songhong Intelligent, China Automotive Policy Research Center, Shanghai Automotive Innovation Platform, Fuyun Intelligent, Kua Robot, JuShi (RuiXing) Technology, and Rino.ai — over 20 organizations in total — for in-depth discussions on standards and regulations.

Shanghai International Automobile City is actively nurturing autonomous driving solutions across scenarios such as mobility, logistics, retail, street cleaning, and epidemic disinfection, aiming to improve its smart travel service ecosystem. This year, the Automobile City helped seven companies apply for Shanghai’s Intelligent Connected Vehicle Demonstration Application Innovation Project, including low-speed unmanned vehicle companies RuiXing, Rino.ai, and Kuyi.

“We are currently assisting the industry in developing relevant management guidelines, which will attract more low-speed unmanned vehicle enterprises to settle in Jiading,” said Zhang Xiaoxin, Head of Autonomous Small Vehicle Operations at Shanghai Intelligent Connected Vehicle Innovation Center.