China's new size standard exempts radar, cameras and V2X antennas from vehicle limits
SAMR approved a revised mandatory standard on vehicle dimensions that carves out sensing and communication hardware, removing a packaging constraint that has shaped where perception components can sit on a vehicle.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation announced on August 31 that it had approved GB 1589-2026, the mandatory national standard setting limits on the exterior dimensions, axle loads and masses of motor vehicles, trailers and combination vehicles. The standard takes effect on July 1, 2027.
The regulator said the revision adds exemption rules on exterior dimensions for radar, cameras and vehicle-to-everything antennas, relaxing limits on local protrusions. It named the functions the change is meant to serve: blind-spot monitoring, environment perception for autonomous driving, vehicle-road coordination and safety communication beyond the driver’s line of sight. The exemptions are targeted at those components rather than a general increase in permitted length or width.
The revision also raises the maximum permissible load for a single axle with one tire on each side from 7,000 to 8,000 kilograms, which the regulator tied to the concentrated mass of batteries on commercial new-energy vehicles. It adds definitions for streamlined semi-trailer tractors and streamlined articulated vehicles, setting a length limit of 18.1 meters for the latter, and extends articulated vehicles carrying 45-foot containers from 17.1 to 17.3 meters while capping the distance from the kingpin center line to the rearmost point at 12.2 meters.
The standard phases in. New applications for type approval fall under it from July 1, 2027, and models already approved must comply from January 1, 2028.
Source: State Administration for Market Regulation · First reported by CnEVPost