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JD.com
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JD.com offers US$15m prize to find top drone-delivery experts and solutions

Its Xi’an R&D hub expects to hire in total of 100 staff by the end of this year to design and make drones that can fly further, and carry heavier loads

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JD.com is already testing longer, stronger delivery flights in Sichuan province which can carry as much as a tonne in weight after successfully trialling 5 to 30 kilogram packages. Photo: SCMPOST
Celia Chenin Shenzhen

Online retail giant JD.com has put up an offer of 100 million yuan (US$15.1 million) to the winners of a unique competition to find the best solutions for conducting widespread drone delivery services across China.

The Nasdaq-listed company’s current drone deliveries are limited to a number of rural areas, but the Amazon-like Chinese online retailer said it is now looking for the world’s top drone talent to design and create a more sophisticated service.

The novel logistics initiative was launched by JD.com officials in the northwest city of Xi’an, where it had also signed cooperation contracts with China West Airport Group, and Northwestern Polytechnical University to cultivate the next stage in drone delivery.

Ahead of launching the competition and achieving what are expected to be considerable logistics cost savings, JD.com still faces airspace restrictions, and will have to meet strict safety conditions before being allowed a license to operate its drones in the country’s larger cities.

JD.com has already started drone deliveries in some of China’s smaller cities and in countryside locations, where its logistics costs have been cut by as much as 70 per cent after eliminating the need for car, van or motorbike deliveries. Photo: Reuters
JD.com has already started drone deliveries in some of China’s smaller cities and in countryside locations, where its logistics costs have been cut by as much as 70 per cent after eliminating the need for car, van or motorbike deliveries. Photo: Reuters

The company was recently denied permission to conduct trial drone deliveries anywhere within Beijing’s outermost sixth ring road.

Richard Liu Qiangdong, JD.com's founder and chief executive, said the company has initially applied for drone deliveries in some of China’s smaller cities and in countryside locations, where its logistics costs expect to be cut by as much as 70 per cent compared with services by car, van or motorbike.

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