Meituan tests unmanned delivery with robots in Beijing and Shenzhen
- Meituan is testing indoor robot deliveries in 10 office buildings and hotels in beijing and Shenzhen
- Meituan also plans to build its drone delivery network in the next five years
If you live in Beijing and Shenzhen, robots and drones may soon be delivering your takeaway lunch orders.
Meituan, China’s largest food delivery service platform, is currently testing indoor robot delivery in 10 office buildings and hotels in Beijing and Shenzhen, and already delivered thousand of orders, Xia Huaxia, chief scientist of Meituan, said on the sideline of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference held in Shanghai last Thursday.
Xia also said that robots and humans would be working together in delivering orders in the foreseeable future, according to the Paper.
Meituan, which currently has more than 600,000 delivery drivers, first set up a team to develop unmanned delivery services in October 2016. The move was intended to respond to rising labour demands and overall costs of operations.
The company, which handles more than 25 million daily orders, is forecast to see its delivery service grow by 200 per cent by 2025, according to Xia.
Two of the robots being tested are developed by Meituan itself. Xiaodai, an outdoor transport robot, can roam around gated compounds and claims to be able to choose the best delivery routes and avoid obstacles on the road. Fudai, the company’s indoor delivery robot, works mainly inside hotels and office buildings, and can bring food orders to users on different floors by using lifts.