A view of Tesla's booth at the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on July 26, 2025 Photo: Zhang Weilan/GT

Progress in the autonomous driving sector has become a focal point at the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, as participating domestic and international players noted plans to advance deployment in the Chinese market amid growing policy support. 

Wang Kang, head of the intelligent driving project for IM Motors under SAIC Motor, told the Global Times on Sunday that the company's Robotaxi service, open to WAIC attendees and local residents, has achieved Level 4 autonomy. 

Passengers can book a fully driverless vehicle, which independently handles pickup, complex road conditions, and safe delivery to the destination, unlike Level 2 assisted driving, which requires constant driver supervision. This experience showcases technical prowess and offers the public a glimpse into future smart mobility, according to Wang. 

US automaker Tesla said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Sunday that the driver-supervised version of its intelligent assisted driving system is planned for further deployment in China and Europe in 2025, pending regulatory approval.

Autonomous driving is categorized from Level 0 to Level 5. The higher the level, the more advanced and intelligent the technology. Vehicles with Level 4 autonomy can drive themselves in most conditions without a human backup driver, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday. 

On Saturday, Shanghai released its latest action plan to build a leading zone for high-level autonomous driving at the WAIC. The plan aims to see Level 4 autonomous vehicles make more than 6 million passenger trips by 2027, open more than 5,000 kilometers of roads for autonomous driving, and ensure that more than 90 percent of the city's new vehicles are equipped with Level 2 and Level 3 autonomous driving functions, according to the Xinhua report. 

Shanghai will accelerate its construction of a globally leading zone for high-level autonomous driving through multi-dimensional collaboration involving data platforms, training bases, key technologies and policy frameworks, said Han Dadong, director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and Informatization's automotive industry division, per Xinhua. 

Also on Saturday, responsible authorities in Shanghai issued China's first batch of smart connected vehicle demonstration operation licenses. The initial recipients cover scenarios such as intelligent mobility and trunk transport, marking a new phase of normalized, large-scale smart connected vehicle operations in China, local news site jfdaily.com reported. 

Domestic industry players, including Pony.ai and IM Motors, announced that they have received these licenses. For instance, Pony.ai said in an official WeChat post that the milestone marks the company's establishment of China's most exemplary autonomous driving commercialization network across the four first-tier cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

China's autonomous driving industry, despite starting later than the US, has leveraged its massive industrial scale, numerous companies, and strong research and development capabilities to catch up rapidly and surpass global leaders, Zhang Xiang, secretary-general of the International Intelligent Vehicle Engineering Association, told the Global Times on Sunday. 

With significant investments, a large-scale ecosystem and fast-paced development, China is quickly closing the gap with and exceeding international standards. Many Chinese companies are now producing key components and system solutions, with an increasing proportion of domestically developed technologies, Zhang said.