Technology boosts traffic management

China has continued to enhance the digitalization of government services in the field of traffic management and is actively promoting the use of electronic vehicle licenses.

Dozens of cities across the country began issuing such vehicle licenses — which are also sometimes known as vehicle registrations in the West — on July 1.

The issuance of e-vehicle licenses is one of the eight new measures recently introduced by the Ministry of Public Security to provide better traffic management services to the public.

The new measures cover various topics such as the application of electronic licenses, the simplification of license and registration procedures, the optimization of urban traffic management and innovations in "Internet + traffic management" services. Along with the e-vehicle license launch, they took effect on July 1 and are expected to benefit hundreds of millions of people.

Wang Qiang, director of the ministry's traffic management bureau, stated that in recent years, the number of motor vehicles and drivers has continued to grow rapidly in China. The nation ranks first in the world in both total and incremental numbers, according to the bureau.

By the end of June this year, the number of motor vehicles nationwide had reached 440 million — including 24.72 million electric vehicles — and the number of drivers stood at 532 million. Over the past decade, an average of about 20 million cars have been registered annually, and roughly 28 million new driver's licenses have been issued each year, according to the ministry.

"The public has expressed new expectations for efficient, convenient, intelligent and precise traffic management services, along with the rapid development of digitalization," Wang said. "The ministry has continued to deepen reforms in traffic management to meet the public's needs."

Since 2017, over 100 reform measures in the traffic management sector have been introduced. These measures — including the ones facilitating new vehicle license applications and interprovincial vehicle inspections — have lowered the cost of business and public services by over 100 billion yuan ($13.75 billion), reduced over 4 billion copies of documents needed by motorists and made life more convenient for over 100 million people.

The measures have also spurred cooperation from over 30,000 automobile dealerships, post offices and insurance companies nationwide, who have served as traffic management service agents and promoted the use of the Jiaoguan 12123 traffic management mobile app. The app offers 35 services to more than 540 million users and is visited 27 million times per day.

To develop the eight measures, the Ministry of Public Safety widely solicited feedback from various sectors of society, Wang said. Preliminary estimates suggest that once the measures are fully implemented, they are expected to further reduce costs borne by the public by approximately 3 billion yuan, he said.

On July 1, 60 cities, including Beijing, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, started issuing e-vehicle licenses, which are valid nationwide. The licenses are expected to be fully implemented throughout the country by the end of the year.

However, the ministry emphasized that drivers still have to carry physical copies of their vehicle licenses in accordance with the Road Traffic Safety Law. Currently, e-vehicle licenses are primarily being used for in-person dealings with traffic management authorities.

In China, vehicles must undergo inspections by vehicle management authorities, and obtain registration and license plates before they can be operated.

Operating a vehicle without a vehicle license is illegal. Such licenses are indispensable in matters such as traffic accidents, car sale disputes and car insurance claims.

Wang stated that in recent years, the ministry has been forging ahead with the digitalization of government services and actively promoting the application of electronic traffic management licenses, including digital inspection decals and e-driver's licenses.

In China, motor vehicles need to undergo inspections periodically to make sure they are still suitable for the road.

In general, privately owned vehicles have to undergo such checks during the sixth and 10th year after they are sold, and annually onward. Owners are given decals proving the worthiness of their vehicles upon completion of the inspections. During the second, fourth and eighth year after the sale, they receive decals waiving the need for inspections.

Such inspection periods for commercial vehicles, such as taxis and buses, are much shorter.

On March 1, 2020, 16 cities, including Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, began piloting the digitization of vehicle inspection decals. Building on these pilots, a nationwide promotion of the decals was carried out in two phases that year — the first in April and the second in June.

On June 1, 2021, e-driver's licenses were piloted in Tianjin, Chengdu in Sichuan province, and Suzhou in Jiangsu. Three months later, the licenses were rolled out in 28 cities, including Beijing, Changchun in Jilin province and Nanning in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The rollout was fully implemented nationwide in 2022.

According to the ministry, by the end of June this year, the national public security traffic management departments had issued about 1.48 billion digital decals and distributed e-driver's licenses to 250 million drivers.

"By promoting the application of electronic licenses and certificates, we have further reduced the number of application steps, the amount of paperwork and the processing time needed for such licenses, continuously improving the level of traffic management services and providing tangible convenience to the public," Wang said.

Xu Guixiang, a 46-year-old man from Shijiazhuang, has worked as a ride-share driver in Beijing for three years. He heard the news on the radio about the e-vehicle licenses and decided to apply for one through the Jiaoguan 12123 app earlier this month.

Last year, Xu received an e-driver's license through the app. He said the license is very convenient when dealing with traffic violations, car accidents and police checks, he said.

"Having driven for many years, I'm used to keeping my driver's license and vehicle license in the car. However, there's always the risk of misplacing them. With electronic documents, this concern is eliminated," he said. "As long as I have my phone, I can access them, and the police can easily check a driver's status with a quick scan."

The process for applying for the e-vehicle license is straightforward. A user undergoes a few steps on the Jiaoguan 12123 app, and after submitting the application, the system verifies their vehicle's status information. The app will then tell the user whether their application has been approved or if there are any problems with it.

According to the ministry, e-vehicle licenses can be used to renew vehicle registrations, track the status of accident cases and for other traffic management services. License-holders can also authorize others to use them for business purposes.

"Public security traffic management departments will further improve information systems and refine supporting regulations to actively expand the application scenarios for e-vehicle licenses so that they can be used to facilitate commercial transportation permits, insurance claims and other situations to improve the handling efficiency," Wang said.

He noted that e-vehicle licenses are generated through the national public security traffic management electronic license system, displaying dynamic information such as the status of vehicle inspections, loans and accident cases, as well as traffic violations.

This allows for real-time inquiries, displays and verification of information, facilitating the use of e-vehicle licenses in scenarios such as loans and secondhand car transactions.

E-vehicle licenses are verified against the national public security traffic management electronic license resource database, using digital signatures and anti-counterfeiting technology to prevent tampering and forgery, thus ensuring the authenticity and validity of the licenses, Wang said.

"Technologies such as dynamic QR codes, data desensitization, data encryptions and real-person verification have been adopted to protect personal information," he said.