Arcfox and Deepal have secured dedicated license plates for Level 3 highway autonomous vehicles in their respective home cities, following China's industrial regulator issuing the first L3 autonomous driving permits earlier this month.
Beijing -- the home city of Arcfox -- issued the EV maker its first dedicated license plates for L3 highway autonomous vehicles today, according to a statement from the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau.
Three Arcfox vehicles received the plates: 京AA0001Z, 京AA0733Z, and 京AA0880Z. Arcfox is the electric vehicle (EV) unit of Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC Group).
This marks China's advancement from testing demonstrations to formal mass production of autonomous vehicles, pioneering the L3 autonomous driving era and representing a milestone in automotive intelligence, the statement noted.
Arcfox's model can achieve conditional autonomous driving, with the system capable of executing dynamic driving tasks under specified conditions. It enables autonomous operation at speeds up to 80 km/h on highways and urban expressways within a single lane.
Although capable of autonomous driving on designated roads, the driver must remain seated in the driver's seat and be ready to take control in emergency situations.
Currently, three road sections in Beijing are open for conditional autonomous driving. On other roads or in other areas, the system will forcibly disable this function.
Three days prior, on December 20, Deepal announced it had obtained the first L3 autonomous driving license plate issued by Chongqing traffic authorities, bearing the number 渝AD0001Z.
On December 15, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced approval for two L3 autonomous driving models: the Deepal SL03 and the Arcfox Alpha S sedans. This marks MIIT's first issuance of L3 permits.
The Deepal SL03 is authorized to activate L3 autonomous driving on single lanes of select Chongqing highways and urban expressways during traffic congestion, with a maximum speed of 50 km/h.
The Arcfox Alpha S can operate autonomously on single lanes of select highways and urban expressways in Beijing, with a maximum speed of 80 km/h.
The symbolic significance of this move far exceeds its practical industry application value from mass production, according to a report released today by market research firm Counterpoint.
The first half of 2026 will become a window period for mass production of L3 autonomous vehicles in the Chinese market, the firm said.
Counterpoint analyst Wang Shaochen anticipates that subsequent approved models will come from automakers including BYD (HKG: 1211, OTCMKTS: BYDDY), FAW Group, GAC Group, Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO, HKG: 9866), and SAIC.
Additionally, Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV, HKG: 9868), Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), and some Huawei partners are also expected to launch mass-produced models with L3 capabilities in the second half of 2026, Counterpoint noted.
