Volkswagen Gets Hefei L3 Test Permit, Targets 2027

Volkswagen Group China says it has been granted a permit to test Level 3 (L3) automated driving on public roads in Hefei, the eastern Chinese city where it runs a technology centre, and that testing has already begun.

L3 is the stage at which a car can drive itself in set conditions and the driver may take their attention off the road until the system asks them to take back control. The permit lets Volkswagen run real-road tests and collect driving data at scale in Hefei, according to the company’s announcement on its Chinese newsroom on 26 October. It says the step moves it towards “L3 technology readiness” in 2027.

In brief

Volkswagen Group China says it has an L3 road-test permit in Hefei and has started real-road testing and data collection.
The company targets L3 technical readiness in 2027 and, from its July plans, first L3 deliveries from the second half of 2027.
A test permit lets it trial the system on public roads. It is not approval to sell L3 cars.

Volkswagen says the permit meets China’s strictest L3 rules

Volkswagen says the permit was granted under “the strictest L3 regulatory framework currently in force in China” and that its system fully meets the latest mandatory safety design standards, in TSN’s translation of the Chinese release. China introduced mandatory safety standards for L3 and L4 driving systems in August, the Global Times reported, in an article based on a Volkswagen statement.

“Volkswagen Group always puts safety and reliability first. In automated driving, too, we will never push technical progress at the expense of safety,” said Ralf Brandstätter, chairman and chief executive of Volkswagen Group China. “Gaining the L3 test qualification lets us test in real traffic in Hefei and collect data at scale, which is an important step on our way to L3 technical readiness.” The quote is TSN’s translation.

The release does not say which models are being tested, how many cars are involved or when exactly the permit was granted. It says only that the permit came “recently”.

The software behind the tests

The tests build on work at CARIZON, Volkswagen’s automated driving joint venture in China. Volkswagen says CARIZON has already launched Hyper Sense 8, its first advanced driver assistance system for all driving scenarios. The group says its own GAIA 2.0 “world model”, a simulation system, runs safety tests equal to 5 million km of real driving every day, drawing on up to 30 million clips of real road data, with a target of 10 million km a day. It is also developing its own C7H chip, which it says can support up to L4.

In July, Volkswagen said CARIZON had signed a deal giving it “white-box access” to Horizon Robotics’ AI foundation model, and that deliveries of L3 capabilities were targeted to start in the second half of 2027.

Volkswagen will hold its first Volkswagen Group China Technology Day in Hefei on 28 October. The announcement also comes on the eve of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s state visit to China, which runs from 27 to 31 October; German media reported that he will visit Volkswagen’s Hefei technology centre on Tuesday, according to the Global Times.

A test permit is a long way from an L3 car on sale

The permit is a real step, but a narrow one. A road-test permit lets a carmaker trial its system on public roads and gather data, which is what Volkswagen says it is now doing. Selling a car whose L3 mode a customer can switch on is a separate approval from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). MIIT granted its first conditional approvals for L3 vehicles in December 2025 and is working on a second batch, the Global Times reported. Volkswagen has not said it has applied.

The wording also matters. Volkswagen’s July release spoke of L3 “deliveries” from the second half of 2027. Today’s release talks about L3 “technical readiness” in 2027. Readiness is a statement about the system; deliveries depend on regulators approving the cars. Volkswagen has not said whether its 2027 deliveries target still stands on the same terms.

For Volkswagen, China is where it is trying hardest to show it can keep up on software. The group has been busy elsewhere this month too: it is giving Microsoft Copilot to more than 330,000 staff, it unveiled the ID. Tiguan electric SUV and it is preparing a wider recall of ID. cars over faulty battery cells. The next markers for the L3 programme are what it shows at Technology Day, how many test cars it puts on Hefei’s roads, and an MIIT application for a car it can sell.