China opened comment on aligning its automated-driving road-test standard with GB 44721

China’s vehicle standardization technical committee put Amendment No. 1 to GB/T 44719-2024, the road-test method and requirements for automated driving functions, out for public comment on September 28. The comment window runs to November 27. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology commissioned the work in February 2026.

The drafters gave the reason directly. The mandatory standard GB 44721-2026, on safety requirements for automated driving systems, was published in July 2026 and takes effect in July 2027, and it states that system-confirmation road testing shall be conducted in accordance with GB/T 44719 — so the two documents have to be brought into line. SDV Sector covered GB 44721 when it was published.

Two heads of the amendment do that work. Requirements on how test operators behave during a test are changed where they conflict with or are inconsistent with the mandatory standard, and so are the pass criteria. A revised clause would provide that neither the test operator nor accompanying personnel shall, through their own behavior, cause the system to trigger an automated-driving fallback response. The drafting note says the original standard did not specify operator requirements for functions that do not permit an exit to manual driving while the vehicle is moving.

The pass criteria are replaced with an enumerated cross-reference into the mandatory standard, pulling in its Annex B clauses for Level 3 functions whose operating conditions include expressways and urban expressways, and Annex C clauses for Level 4.

One inconsistency survives into the consultation: the amendment sheet and its own explanatory note give three different clause ranges for which requirements a road test must satisfy.