China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) proposed on Tuesday that only vehicles with Level 3 or higher automated driving systems be allowed to carry dedicated blue-green marker lamps showing that the system is in control, according to a draft mandatory national standard the ministry published for public comment.
The proposal is part of a revision of GB 4785, China’s mandatory standard on installing exterior lighting and light-signaling devices on motor vehicles and trailers, which has been in force since July 2020.
The MIIT’s Equipment Industry Department I released the draft is taking written or emailed comments until December 19.
An explanatory document accompanying the lighting draft recommends that the revised standard take effect on January 1, 2028.
How the Lamps Would Work
The draft defines the automated driving system (ADS) marker lamp as a lamp that “indicates to other road users that the vehicle’s automated driving system (ADS) is in an activated state,” according to a translation of the text.
It assigns the lamp a color of its own, which the Chinese text calls “blue-green,” and it adds chromaticity limits for that color to the standard.
Only vehicles that comply with China’s safety standard for automated driving systems, and that have Level 3 or higher systems could optionally fit front, rear and side ADS marker lamps.
“Vehicles without Level 3 or higher automated driving systems are prohibited from installing ADS marker lamps,” the draft says.
Trailers used with Level 3 or higher automated tractors could optionally carry rear and side lamps.
A car that fits the lamps would need a pair at the front, a pair at the rear and a pair on the sides, with at least one more lamp on each side for vehicles 6 meters (19.7 feet) or longer, all at least 250 millimeters (9.8 inches) above the ground.
All of the lamps would switch on automatically and at the same time when Level 3 or higher automated driving is activated, stay on while the system is active and switch off together when it disengages.
They would be barred from lighting up while the vehicle’s driving automation is working at Level 2 or below, and “manually switching ADS marker lamps on or off is prohibited,” according to the draft.
The lamps could share a lit surface with daytime running lamps, position lamps, side marker lamps, turn signals or end-outline marker lamps, with rules to keep two colors from showing in the same area at once.
When an ADS function is active, the draft says the vehicle should control all of its lighting and light-signaling devices through the ADS.
Under China’s driving automation classification standard, a Level 3 system performs the entire dynamic driving task within its design conditions while a fallback-ready user takes over on request, and a Level 4 system also carries out a minimal risk strategy on its own.
Why the Rules Are Changing
The explanatory document says the 2019 standard needed updating after six years of changes in lighting technology, and after China issued three new component-level lamp standards in September 2024 which took effect on July 1, 2025.
It says the revision mainly follows United Nations Regulation No. 48, adapted to China’s lighting products, and that the ADS marker lamp and display interaction rules have no counterpart in that UN regulation.
Many Chinese automakers have fitted external blue lamps to show that assisted driving is on, including Nio, which in April offered a retrofit for older models.
Li Auto said its L9 SUV, launched on June 21, 2022, came with five “smart driving assist lights,” which it described as a first, to show the status of its driver assistance and remind nearby pedestrians and vehicles to keep a safe distance, according to a translation of the company’s release.
On July 29, the China Automotive Standardization Research Institute said the lights were being misused, causing glare and making cars more likely to be cut off or tailgated, and that under GB 4785-2019 cars should in principle not use lamps the standard does not define.
The same day, Geely told Yicai the company would comply with national rules, and an automaker employee told the outlet that newly certified models had been barred from using the lights since July 27.
Tuesday’s draft does not address vehicles already on the road.
China tried once before, in a 2021 draft of its light-signaling device standard dated July 2021, which said Level 3 and higher M- and N-category vehicles “shall be fitted” with blue-green ADS lamps, using almost the same color limits.
The lamp was left out of the final, issued on September 29, 2024, Jiemian reported.
GB 5920 sets how signal lamps perform, while GB 4785 sets where lamps go on a vehicle, how many are fitted and how they are switched, the new explanatory document says.
No Text, Faces or Voice-Off
Beyond the ADS lamps, every lamp the standard defines except illuminated emblems would be barred from displaying any text, either on its lens or by projection.
Light patterns could not “form or combine into human faces, animal faces or other anthropomorphic figures with expressive meaning,” according to the draft, which the explanatory document describes as banning emoji-style patterns.
Gesture control of the defined lamps would be prohibited, as would switching them off by voice, and a vehicle that turns on a lamp by voice would have to show the driver where the manual switch is.
Turn signals and reversing lamps could not share a lit area with brake lamps or rear fog lamps, which the explanatory document says avoids the risk of mixing colors.
Signal lamps with variable intensity would have to dim or brighten the whole lamp, rather than switch some light sources on or off.
While a car is being driven on public roads, any light the standard does not define would have to stay off, apart from lamps required on school buses, police cars, fire engines and other special vehicles.
Welcome and other lighting effects would be allowed only when the car is not being driven, such as when parked or after a door opens, and could not use a color close to the ADS blue-green.
Where such effects can be seen on public roads, they could flash at no more than 2.0 Hz and last no more than 5 seconds.
Only position lamps and ADS marker lamps could carry a new “display interaction” function showing graphics or symbols, and only while the ADS lamp is lit.
Light-signal projections onto the ground could not be switched on above 30 km/h (19 mph) and would have to turn off automatically above 35 km/h (22 mph).
Drafting and Timeline
The Standardization Administration of China approved the revision project in late April, with a 16-month timeline, according to the national standards platform.
The lead drafters listed there are Shanghai Motor Vehicle Inspection Certification & Tech Innovation Center, China Automotive Technology and Research Center, Shenzhen Yinwang Intelligent Technology, SAIC Volkswagen and BYD.
Preliminary work began at a meeting in Changsha in May 2024, and a dedicated online meeting on Aug. 28, 2025, gave preliminary agreement on the ADS lamp content, the explanatory document says.
Last September, the drafters held talks on the ADS lamp provisions with the Ministry of Public Security’s Road Traffic Safety Research Center, and the document reports no major disagreements during drafting.
It says “this standard is recommended to be implemented from January 1, 2028,” according to a translation, and recommends notifying the World Trade Organization.
For newly type-approved models, the ADS lamp rules would apply from that date, three headlamp-leveling clauses from the 25th month and all other provisions from the seventh month, according to the draft.
Models that already hold type approval would have until the 37th month for most provisions and the 49th month for the headlamp-leveling clauses, or up to 48 months.
If the 2028 date holds, new models would face most rules from July 2028, and existing models would have until January 2031, or January 2032 for the headlamp clauses.
Four Other Standards
A draft mandatory standard on automotive data security, GB 44464, would replace a 2024 recommended standard and apply to passenger and commercial vehicles, according to the MIIT documents.
It would require separate consent before sensitive personal information is processed, bar cars from asking again for 48 hours after a user refuses, and prohibit sending cabin data outside the vehicle without consent unless an exemption applies.
Camera images of people and license plates captured outside the car without consent, and sent off the vehicle for safety reasons, would have to be anonymized in the car, and the explanatory document recommends that the standard take effect on July 1, 2028.
A standard on in-vehicle radio receivers, proposed by the MIIT and the National Radio and Television Administration, would require cars to receive FM broadcasts and allow AM, and is also recommended to take effect on July 1, 2028.
Its explanatory document says broadcast radio can deliver emergency information when cellular base stations are knocked out by earthquakes, floods or typhoons.
A safety standard for parking driver-assistance systems in passenger cars and light commercial vehicles would cover basic systems, enhanced systems that can cruise to find a space, and close-range systems the driver operates with an authenticated mobile device within a set distance of the car.
Enhanced systems could control speed only up to 10 km/h (6 mph) and operate below 15 km/h, and drafters received 720 comments from 39 organizations, adopting 290 in full and 120 in part, the documents show.
A fourth standard would set safety requirements for Level 3 and Level 4 automated parking systems in passenger and commercial vehicles, with a parking speed limit of 10 km/h and a parking cruise limit of 30 km/h.
Both parking standards are recommended to take effect on January 1, 2028, with models already holding type approval given until the 13th month.
Level 3 Context
The automated driving safety standard the lighting draft relies on was approved on July 30 and is scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2027, the MIIT said.
The ministry said the standard covers M- and N-category vehicles with Level 3 and Level 4 systems and does not apply to automated parking.
China picked nine automakers for Level 3 road pilots in June 2024, and XPeng and Li Auto later secured Level 3 test permits in their home cities.
In April 2025, China banned terms such as “autonomous driving” in automakers’ promotion of driver-assistance systems.
Last Decembr, the MIIT granted conditional approval to China’s first two Level 3 models, a Changan sedan limited to 50 km/h (31 mph) in Chongqing and an Arcfox sedan limited to 80 km/h (50 mph) on designated Beijing highways.
