National rules drafted for car tests

The nation has completed the first draft of nationwide regulations for road tests of internet-connected vehicles and self-driving cars, as part of the broad push to gain a lead in commercializing such vehicles, according to a source close to the matter.

The regulations, drafted by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, are expected to allow more tests of self-driving vehicles on public roads in different cities across the country and lower Chinese companies' costs of acquiring high-quality data, said Gong Zheng, an engineer at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a think tank affiliated with the ministry.

"The first draft has already been reviewed by experts from the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Public Security and other institutions, which will play an important part in ensuring safe road tests of such vehicles," said Gong.