China's NOA fleet reaches 15 million as L3 pilots advance

By Grace Kim

China had about 15 million passenger cars equipped with NOA (navigation on autopilot) capability as of August 2026—roughly 25% of the country’s 61 million passenger cars carrying Level 2 (L2) driver-assistance features. The China Academy of Information and Communications Technology reported the figures Friday.

Those figures measure the existing vehicle fleet, not new sales during 2026. They should not be read as this year’s sales result.

China also reported two connectivity installations as of August 2026:

• About 16 million passenger cars with 5G (fifth-generation cellular) terminals.
• About 2 million passenger cars with C-V2X (Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything) terminals.

The 2026 World Intelligent Connected Vehicles Conference presented the figures in Beijing’s Yizhuang area from October 21 to 23. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the Ministry of Transport and the Beijing municipal government jointly organized the event.

During a session announcing the conference’s outcomes on October 21, Guo Shougang, head of the MIIT equipment industry department, released for public consultation a draft 2026 edition of guidelines for building China’s national connected-vehicle technical standards system.

China has established an initial connected-vehicle standards framework, with work undertaken on more than 400 standards across areas including:

• Intelligent connected vehicles
• Information and communications
• Intelligent transportation
• Vehicle management

The revised guidelines seek to:

• Expand standards for intelligent connected vehicle functions and applications.
• Strengthen requirements for system architecture, core components and overall safety.
• Improve standards governing autonomous-driving operations and services.

Those changes remain proposals because the 2026 edition is a draft open for public consultation. A technical standards draft also does not itself grant market access for autonomous-driving operations.

China is separately advancing market-access pilots for L3 vehicles (higher-level autonomous-driving capability). Cailian reported on October 22 that Guo said: “work on the second batch of L3 autonomous driving product market access pilots was underway.”

He did not identify the automakers or models involved in the second batch, and he gave no timetable for approvals.

The first batch of L3 models from automakers Changan and BAIC received conditional market-access approval in December 2025. Their use remains restricted to designated road sections and operating conditions, rather than allowing the functions to operate broadly on roads nationwide.

What does this change for automakers and suppliers?

The practical issue is whether higher-level functions can move beyond controlled operating areas. The answer remains limited: NOA sits inside the existing L2 fleet, while Changan and BAIC’s conditional L3 approvals cover designated road sections and operating conditions. The second batch has no named automakers, models or approval schedule.

Neither the 15 million-car NOA installed base nor the draft standards package turns those conditional permissions into nationwide authorization.

What to watch next is the policy sequence, not another adoption estimate. The open items are:

• The result of public consultation on the draft 2026 connected-vehicle standards guidelines.
• Disclosure of automakers and models in the second L3 market-access pilot.
• Approval decisions and any change to designated-road and operating-condition limits for first-batch models.

No deadline was given for the standards consultation, and no approval date was given for the second batch.