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# China proposes optional cyan running lights for self-driving cars
- URL: https://asia-tech-news.ghost.io/china-proposes-optional-cyan-running-lights-for-self-driving-cars/
- Published: 2026-10-30T00:41:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-30T00:41:00.000Z
- Description: The draft rule would bar the kind of blue lights Chinese carmakers have put on assisted-driving cars since 2022 and reportedly dazzle other drivers.
- Author: Cbot Crew
- Tags: Standards & certification, Electric vehicles, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), Mercedes-Benz, #edibot, #edibot-changed

China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT, 工业和信息化部) has proposed optional cyan running lights to show other road users when a car is driving itself, and a ban on such lights for cars whose systems only assist a human driver. The cyan lights on such vehicles would be in addition to standard headlights, turn indicators and brake lights. 

The draft revision of a mandatory national lighting standard calls it an automated driving system (ADS) marker lamp. Only vehicles with Level 3 automation or higher, what China calls conditional automation, may fit one. It must light up automatically while that system is driving and stay dark under Level 2 driver assistance, the [draft](https://www.miit.gov.cn/cms%5Ffiles/filemanager/1226211233/attach/202610/9bbb0e3a55be4500bdf64bfd423a9027.pdf?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io) says.

That would rule out the blue lights Chinese carmakers have put on production cars since August 2022, the Economic Observer (经济观察网) [reported](https://www.eeo.com.cn/2026/1022/1072635.shtml?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io). In July, an auto standards research institute said the lights, which show that a car's driver-assistance system is on, can dazzle other drivers at night and make the car a target for cutting in and tailgating, and that the current standard in principle doesn't allow lamps it doesn't define, Xinhua (新华社) [reported](https://www.news.cn/auto/20260729/c5a02b39e07942b3bb0e70e49b45cbb8/c.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io).

MIIT is taking comments on the [proposal](https://www.miit.gov.cn/jgsj/zbys/qcgy/art/2026/art%5F0ea967f5be48474b9f50c3c6f7db8e1f.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io) until Dec. 19\. The drafters propose that the standard take effect Jan. 1, 2028, with three more years for models already approved, their [explanatory note](https://www.miit.gov.cn/cms%5Ffiles/filemanager/1226211233/attach/202610/04734decd496445e85be7b4b94636ff5.pdf?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io) says. Neither document says what would happen to cars already sold.

The lamp rule follows mandatory standards for Level 2 driver assistance, taking effect Jan. 1, 2027, and for Level 3 and Level 4 systems, from July 1, 2027\. Since the start of 2026, 70% of new passenger cars in China have come with Level 2 driver assistance, Xinhua [reported in July](https://www.gov.cn/lianbo/202607/content%5F7074120.htm?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io).

UN Regulation No. 48, which the Chinese standard is modeled on, has no marker-lamp requirement, the drafters wrote, and UN working groups are still studying the lights, the institute said, according to Xinhua. In the US, [Mercedes-Benz](https://group.mercedes-benz.com/?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io) [said in December 2023](https://media.mercedes-benz.be/fr/mercedes-benz-receives-approvals-for-turquoise-coloured-automated-driving-marker-lights-in-california-and-nevada/?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io) it had won permits in California and Nevada for turquoise marker lights.

*Sources:* [*工业和信息化部 MIIT (Equipment Industry Department I)*](https://www.miit.gov.cn/jgsj/zbys/qcgy/art/2026/art%5F0ea967f5be48474b9f50c3c6f7db8e1f.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*,* [*工业和信息化部 MIIT: GB 4785 draft (征求意见稿)*](https://www.miit.gov.cn/cms%5Ffiles/filemanager/1226211233/attach/202610/9bbb0e3a55be4500bdf64bfd423a9027.pdf?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*,* [*工业和信息化部 MIIT: GB 4785 explanatory note (编制说明)*](https://www.miit.gov.cn/cms%5Ffiles/filemanager/1226211233/attach/202610/04734decd496445e85be7b4b94636ff5.pdf?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*,* [*经济观察网 Economic Observer*](http://www.eeo.com.cn/2026/1022/1072635.shtml?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*, 新华社 Xinhua* [*\[1\]*](https://www.news.cn/auto/20260729/c5a02b39e07942b3bb0e70e49b45cbb8/c.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*,* [*\[2\]*](https://www.news.cn/politics/20260804/b872e55762d9456080314e506299e4b6/c.html?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*,* [*新华社 Xinhua (gov.cn)*](https://www.gov.cn/lianbo/202607/content%5F7074120.htm?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)*,* [*Mercedes-Benz Group (media release)*](https://media.mercedes-benz.be/fr/mercedes-benz-receives-approvals-for-turquoise-coloured-automated-driving-marker-lights-in-california-and-nevada/?ref=asia-tech-news.ghost.io)

*Editor: Ian Lamont*