China has banned highway testing of autonomous vehicles while the country’s auto-industry regulator works with local police to determine specific national rules about autonomous car testing.
A preliminary draft of the rules has been drawn up and if it completely rules out any highway testing of autonomous cars, local firms could be delayed with their developments of such technologies, restricting them to smaller local roads and unable to test highway cruising capabilities.
During a recent forum in Beijing, the head of the autos department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, She Weizhen, failed to announce just when the regulations will be finalized and implemented
China, as with other countries, is balancing up pressure from technology firms while still wanting to maintain safety standards on its extensive road network.
Given recent controversy surrounding autonomous driving systems, China’s careful and thorough approach is understandable.
Via Auto News