China Tests New Way To Automate Trucking: One Driver Leading A Convoy A single human sits in a lead cab on the Beijing–Tianjin–Tanggu Expressway. Behind them, heavy trucks follow in tight formation — empty cabs, no safety operators, Level 4 autonomy handling every steering input via vehicle-to-vehicle communication. This isn't a test track scenario. It's a permitted, cross-provincial operation. China's "1+N" platooning model isn't waiting for the perfect fully-driverless solution. It built a working one around regulations that already exist. The architecture is straightforward. The lead truck carries a human driver who handles navigation, compliance, and edge-case judgment. Trailing trucks mirror its every move autonomously. Deployments target controlled, high-frequency environments first — smart ports, mining haul roads, fixed expressway freight corridors — where trip patterns are predictable enough that Level 4 systems can actually prove themselves. Who's Running It and Where Three companies hold the serious approvals, spanning ports, expressways, and mining corridors across multiple Chinese provinces. Pony.ai became the first company approved for cross-provincial robotruck platooning in China, running convoys on the Jingjintang Expressway connecting Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei. Its 2025 permits now allow trailing trucks to operate completely driver-out — a meaningful step beyond earlier requirements mandating safety personnel in every cab. SANY paired its 4th-generation electric semi with Pony.ai technology in a "1+4" configuration aimed specifically at smart-port drayage operations, where repetitive short-haul movements make autonomous following trucks particularly effective. KargoBot, backed by DiDi, holds L4 convoy approvals across four regions: - Beijing - Tianjin - Inner Mongolia - Hebei These include routes along the Beijing–Taipei Expressway and Daxing Airport Expressway. In Ordos, 100 Level 4 electric trucks running KargoBot systems have been delivered and are operating in convoy demonstration mode. The system, as SANY's rollout framing puts it, "pairs autonomy with human experience" — the lead