Compact and nimble, autonomous delivery vehicles have become part of everyday life in China, navigating urban streets and serving remote villages as an emerging force in express delivery and logistics supply chains.

Data shows that by the end of 2024, over 6,000 unmanned delivery vehicles had entered large-scale commercial operation, delivering hundreds of millions of orders across more than 100 specialized scenarios.

At 8:30 a.m., an autonomous vehicle was on duty at the Yunxi outlet of courier service provider Yunda Express in Yunxi district, Yueyang, central China's Hunan Province. About 10 minutes later, it glided into a community parcel station.

A few practiced taps — remote unlocking, quick unloading, one-touch restart — and the vehicle began its return trip.

After six months of pilot operation, the Yunxi outlet now runs six unmanned vehicles serving more than 50 nearby communities, with daily deliveries exceeding 10,000 parcels.

During the Yangshan honey peach harvest season in Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu Province, over 20 unmanned vehicles of courier service provider SF Express shuttled along pre-set routes linking collection points across orchards and fields.

"These vehicles rely on cloud-based platforms for high-precision positioning, ensuring accurate trips between collection sites and outlets," said Li Yiwen, head of SF Express's Wuxi transfer center.

As intelligent technologies integrate more deeply into modern logistics, unmanned delivery vehicles are expanding their role in both urban and rural circulation networks

In Beijing's Shunyi district, Meituan has introduced a hybrid delivery model combining couriers and autonomous vehicles. After customers place orders, the unmanned vehicles transport parcels to transfer stations, where couriers complete the "last hundred meters" of delivery.

Compared with manual delivery, operating unmanned vehicles can cut costs by nearly half, explained Yao Lei, head of the Yunxi outlet of Yunda Express. "As business volume grows, we can unlock even greater cost-saving potential," said Yao.

Vehicles working in tandem with couriers continuously improve delivery speed and efficiency, said Li Da, operations director of Meituan's unmanned vehicle division, adding that this year, couriers' average monthly deliveries have increased by 10 percent compared with last year, with earnings up by several hundred yuan (1 yuan equals about $0.14).

Unmanned vehicles free up couriers for production-sales coordination and management tasks, creating new value-added opportunities for both employees and companies, said Wei Feixiang, land transport capacity planning director at SF Express.

Thanks to the strengths of unmanned vehicles — all-weather operation, flexibility, environmental friendliness, and high returns — express delivery and logistics have become one of the most promising sectors for large-scale autonomous vehicle deployment, according to an official from the State Post Bureau (SPB).

Behind the growing unmanned delivery fleet and expanding coverage lies close alignment between supply and demand.

On the supply side, autonomous vehicle maker Neolix has made steady progress since obtaining China's first official permit for autonomous delivery vehicles on public roads in 2021. The company's annual deliveries exceeded 1,000 units for the first-time last year. In 2025, its monthly deliveries have surpassed that figure.

On the demand side, courier service provider ZTO Express has rapidly expanded its unmanned delivery fleet since the initial rollout in 2023. Currently, more than 2,000 ZTO autonomous vehicles deliver over 200,000 parcels daily across 200-plus cities, logging a cumulative total of more than 20 million kilometers.

In April, ZTO Express signed a cooperation agreement with Neolix to extend digital capabilities across collection, sorting, transportation, and delivery. In July, STO Express formed a strategic partnership with the unmanned vehicle division of Alibaba's logistics arm Cainiao to explore new vehicle types and business models adaptable to multiple delivery scenarios.

The synergy between technological innovation and scenario testing has driven autonomous delivery vehicles rapidly into large-scale application, said Yu Enyuan, founder of Neolix.

Continuous alignment of technologies and practical scenarios has also brought costs down sharply. "Five years ago, hardware costs for a single unmanned delivery vehicle ranged from 300,000 to 500,000 yuan. Today, they've dropped below 100,000 yuan — just one-tenth of similar products overseas," Yu said.

The widespread adoption of unmanned delivery vehicles also owes much to an improving policy environment, said Lang Dan, public affairs director of Meituan's unmanned vehicle division.

For a vehicle to operate legally, it must obtain road permits, licenses, and comply with supporting regulations and digital supervision requirements. By mid-2025, over 100 Chinese cities had opened roads to unmanned delivery vehicles. This year, Beijing and Shenzhen issued L4 autonomous driving test licenses for micro cargo vehicles, marking a new stage of multi-scenario, large-scale development for autonomous freight services.

In recent years, the SPB has issued a series of industry standards, including research and development guidelines and service specifications for unmanned vehicles, to accelerate the deployment of medium and large autonomous delivery vehicles, said Jin Bing, former deputy director of the SPB's policy and regulation department.

Next, the SPB plans to release implementation guidelines on integrating artificial intelligence with the postal and express delivery sectors to advance large-scale applications of drones, unmanned vehicles, and intelligent warehousing, Jin added.

(Source: People's Daily)