Volkswagen Gets L3 Testing Permit in Hefei, China; XPeng Approved for City-Wide L4 Robotaxi Demo in Guangzhou

German automaker Volkswagen Group (China) and Chinese electric vehicle maker XPeng have recently announced they obtained higher-level autonomous driving road permits in China. Volkswagen stated it has been approved to conduct Level 3 (L3) conditional automated driving tests on public roads in Hefei, Anhui Province, with testing already underway. XPeng announced its robotaxi service has been approved for Level 4 (L4) demonstration operations across the entire city of Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. These developments mark a gradual regulatory thaw in China's autonomous driving sector following the Baidu Wuhan incident earlier this year.

Volkswagen's permit is for road testing only and does not yet allow the sale of L3 vehicles to consumers. The permission also covers large-scale driving data collection in Hefei, aiming for L3 technology readiness in China by 2027. Volkswagen noted the permit was issued under China's strictest L3 regulatory framework and complies with the latest mandatory safety design standards, but did not specify the issuing authority or fleet size. Volkswagen's autonomous driving software in China is developed by CARIZON, a joint venture between Volkswagen's software subsidiary CARIAD and Chinese chipmaker Horizon Robotics.

XPeng's qualification for intelligent connected vehicle demonstration application in Guangzhou allows city-wide L4 robotaxi demonstration operations, symbolizing a shift from technical verification to operational and business model validation. Initial access will be gradually opened via invitation codes. XPeng Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng previously reaffirmed the goal of operating passenger services without safety drivers by 2027. Technically, XPeng's robotaxi is based on the GX model, equipped with four self-developed Turing AI chips delivering 3,000 TOPS of computing power, and uses the VLA 2.0 Vision-Language-Action model.