Two 5G Industry Standards for High-Level Autonomous Driving Approved, Set for 2026 Implementation

On June 26, 2024, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) approved and released two 5G network communication industry standards supporting high-level autonomous driving: "5G Network Deployment and Testing Methods for High-Level Autonomous Driving" and "5G Network Performance Requirements for High-Level Autonomous Driving." These standards will take effect on September 1, 2026. Led by the Shanghai Communications Administration, China Mobile, and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), the development of these standards involved over 20 organizations. The drafting process began on March 31, 2023, and spanned more than three years, encompassing refinement of consortium standards, submission and revision for industry standardization, and final approval by regulatory authorities. The standards specify requirements for 5G network capabilities essential to high-level autonomous driving operations, including signal coverage planning, key performance indicators, field testing procedures, and communication security constraints, with tailored provisions for different application scenarios. This marks the first time China has issued industry standards specifically focused on 5G network performance and engineering acceptance criteria for high-level autonomous driving, filling a critical gap in unified technical specifications in this domain. Upon implementation, these standards will provide clear compliance guidelines for Shanghai’s intelligent connected vehicle (ICV) demonstration roads, vehicle-infrastructure cooperative projects, and commercial autonomous driving pilots—reducing discrepancies in technical approaches and lowering costs associated with network deployment, debugging, and acceptance. Nationally, the unified standards will help harmonize the scale and scope of vehicle-to-everything (V2X) infrastructure development across regions, prevent fragmented network architectures and inconsistent performance requirements, and facilitate cross-regional collaboration in intelligent connected mobility services.