Meituan tests driverless vans on rural postal routes in eastern China

In Linyi, a city in eastern China's Shandong province, self-driving vans now link three local post offices. Parcels that used to take two days to reach residents once they arrived in town now take one, according to a report in China Traffic News (中国交通新闻网).

Meituan is best known for its food-delivery riders, who carry orders through Chinese cities on electric scooters. Its Jibao (吉豹) autonomous logistics vehicles have entered rural routes in Linyi, Weifang and other parts of Shandong. The report says the testing is done with China Post.

The vans shuttle between processing centers, delivery outlets and local post offices, a leg of the network the paper calls hard to run, with long distances, uneven volumes and awkward schedules.

Meituan says its autonomous delivery vehicles, first tested in Beijing in 2020, have completed more than 6 million outdoor deliveries and driven more than 50 million kilometers. Jibao test routes also run in Shenzhen, Zibo, Foshan and other cities.

Meituan is joining a crowded road. Delivery companies in Shandong were running 1,945 driverless vehicles on 397 approved routes as of May, Dazhong Daily (大众日报) reported.

Sources: 中国交通新闻网 China Traffic News, 大众日报 Dazhong Daily

Editor: Ian Lamont