Consultation on revised lighting standard
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has opened public consultation and formally begun revising the standard for the installation of exterior lighting and light-signaling devices on vehicles and trailers. The new standard is planned to take effect on January 1, 2028.
Before this revision, China had not established unified technical rules for autonomous-driving marker lights, according to the report.
Marker light limited to L3 and above
The draft allows only L3, or conditionally automated, and higher autonomous vehicles to optionally fit an autonomous-driving marker light, often called the "little blue light." Most vehicles on the market are L2 assisted-driving cars, which the standard explicitly does not permit to install or use the marker light.
Any vehicle that fits the marker light must meet all technical clauses of the standard.
Blue-green color and automatic control
The standard selects blue-green as the exclusive color for the autonomous-driving marker light. It sets requirements for the light's luminous intensity, emission angle and installation position, and regulates brightness through defined chromaticity coordinate boundaries.
The light must be bound to the driving system: it switches on automatically when the relevant driving function is activated and switches off automatically when the system exits, with manual switching on or off prohibited.
The draft also does not allow vehicles to display text, emoji or similar content through exterior lights while driving.