Volkswagen Aims for L3 Autonomy by 2027, Targets L4 by 2029

At the High-Level Forum on Intelligent Electric Vehicle Development held in Beijing on April 11, Han Sanchu, Executive Vice President of Volkswagen Group and CEO of CARIAD China, stated that intelligence has become a key factor for consumers when purchasing vehicles. He emphasized that Volkswagen is accelerating the development of software capabilities and rapid iteration processes centered around the core needs of Chinese users. Han revealed that Volkswagen plans to achieve conditional Level 3 (L3) autonomous driving by 2027 and Level 4 (L4) autonomous driving by 2029. Han assumed leadership of CARIAD China on March 1, 2024. Prior to joining Volkswagen, he served as Chief Software Architect at Changan Automobile, where he led the comprehensive development of the "software-defined vehicle" platform and accumulated extensive experience in automotive software. During the forum, other industry representatives also shared updates on autonomous driving progress. Jin Yuzhi, CEO of Huawei's Intelligent Automotive Solution BU, described L3 as a critical step toward full autonomy and predicted that 2026 could mark the dawn of the global autonomous driving era. Zhang Bo, CEO of DiDi Autonomous Driving, announced that DiDi has mastered full-stack L4 core technologies and will launch 24/7 fully driverless passenger trials in select areas of Guangzhou and Beijing in the fourth quarter of 2025. Additionally, the next-generation Robotaxi model R2, co-developed by DiDi and GAC Aion, was delivered in January 2026 and has already begun road testing.