Beijing: Proposes to establish a regulatory sandbox for new technologies, new scenarios, new products, and new models in the field of autonomous vehicles

On June 30, according to the official website of the Beijing Municipal People's Government, in order to promote the high-quality development of the autonomous driving vehicle industry, help build a global digital economy benchmark city, and implement the instructions of the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government on accelerating the legislation of autonomous driving vehicles, relevant departments have drafted the "Beijing Autonomous Driving Vehicle Regulations (Draft for Comments)" and are now soliciting public opinions from June 30, 2024 to July 29, 2024.

The "Draft for Comments" mainly stipulates the stages of innovation activities, scenarios of innovation activities, management of innovation activities, declaration and confirmation system, facilitation measures, and road transport service pilot projects.

In terms of autonomous driving vehicle innovation activities, the "Draft for Comments" clarifies that the relevant activities include four stages: "conducting road tests", "demonstration applications", "demonstration operations", and "road transport service pilots". At the same time, it clarifies that relevant departments should carry out autonomous driving vehicle management, establish a reporting and determination system for innovative activities and a regular assessment system for the overall situation, and open up public information channels. At the same time, it stipulates the requirements for drivers or (remote) safety officers, and clarifies the rules for handling relevant traffic violations and determining accident responsibilities.

In addition, the "Draft for Comments" also clearly proposes to support innovative research and development, promote the development of the industrial chain, and advance the improvement of the autonomous driving vehicle industry ecosystem; support the construction of product quality inspection and testing institutions, and enhance Beijing's autonomous driving vehicle and component testing, evaluation and certification capabilities; organize the formulation of local standards in the fields of intelligent roadside infrastructure, inspection and testing, autonomous driving maps, etc. related to autonomous driving vehicles; support the circulation and utilization of autonomous driving vehicle data, and encourage market entities to develop data products and provide applications and services; propose the establishment of a regulatory sandbox for the application of new technologies, new scenarios, new products, and new models in the field of autonomous driving vehicles.