He Xiaopeng Advocates Jumping from L2 to L4 Autonomy; MIIT Advances Safety Standards

On April 16, He Xiaopeng, Chairman and CEO of XPeng Inc., addressed the ongoing debate over autonomous driving technology pathways in a media interview. He stated that while it is positive for the market to explore multiple technical approaches, the industry’s ultimate goal should focus on enhancing system safety—gradually advancing from requiring driver intervention once every 100 kilometers to once every 1,000 or even 10,000 kilometers—to optimize user experience. Regarding the debate over whether the industry should skip Level 3 (L3) automation, He noted that L3 and L4 were initially defined purely as technical classifications and did not adequately account for practical commercialization needs. He argued that the most prudent evolutionary path is to iterate directly from L2 to L4, continuously accumulating real-world data, prioritizing safety throughout, and simultaneously promoting the refinement of relevant policies and regulations. This issue has recently drawn renewed industry attention following remarks by Jin Yuzhi, Senior Vice President of Huawei and CEO of Yinwang Technologies, who asserted that L3 is an indispensable step toward achieving L4 and L5 autonomy. In contrast, XPeng, Tesla, Baidu, and academic expert Ouyang Minggao have advocated pursuing L4 development directly. Separately, according to public information, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) finalized the draft mandatory national standard titled “Safety Requirements for Combined Driving Assistance Systems in Intelligent Connected Vehicles” on April 15. The standard applies to M- and N-class vehicles equipped with combined driving assistance systems and establishes unified requirements for system safety design, testing validation, and type approval. The standard categorizes combined driving assistance systems into three types: basic single-lane, basic multi-lane, and navigation-guided pilot systems. It specifies detailed technical requirements for functions such as lane cruise control, lane change control, cross-lane obstacle avoidance, and navigation through intersections and roundabouts. Additionally, it defines intervention strategies for risk-mitigation functions and requirements for selecting target stopping areas.