Autonomous driving paves way for smarter logistics in China

BEIJING -- In the city of Ziyang, Sichuan province, a logistics company has hired three "employees" who never take lunch breaks and could work around the clock without any complaints.

They are autonomous delivery vans, each capable of carrying between 600 and 800 parcels. They navigate the winding roads between villages located 10 to 30 kilometers from the distribution center at a steady pace of 15-20 km/h.

They stop dutifully at red lights, dodge obstacles with algorithmic precision, and can be remotely monitored -- even overridden -- via smartphone or laptop.

When one such vehicle arrived in Zhenshu village after its 90-minute journey, site manager Luo Diwen demonstrated the unloading process with a few taps on his phone. "Open the app, select the license plate, tap to unlock -- it's that simple," he said, as the van autonomously prepared for its next stop after scanning a confirmation QR code.

The real payoff comes in the ledgers. According to Liu Gang, general manager of the local logistics company, the driverless fleet has slashed labor costs and reduced fuel consumption by nearly half.

These three driverless vehicles hail from Neolix, an autonomous vehicle company headquartered in Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area.

Founded in 2018, the company has experienced explosive growth this year, scaling its global fleet from just over 2,000 units by the end of 2024 to an impressive 7,500-plus vehicles deployed across 280 cities today -- with cumulative L4 autonomous driving mileage surpassing 42 million kilometers.

The company made history in May 2021 when it received China's first official permit for autonomous delivery vehicles on public roads. This milestone was complemented by the establishment of large-scale partnerships with China's premier express logistics providers, including SF Express, YTO Express, and STO Express.

Neolix's founder and CEO Yu Enyuan and co-founder Yang Zhe both have firsthand experience working in logistics operations, giving them deep insight into the industry's core challenges -- reducing costs while improving efficiency.

According to Yu, since its founding in 2018, Neolix has completed five generations of product iterations, with each new version achieving 2 to 3 times performance improvement while reducing costs by 30 percent.

The company's fourth-generation X3 model now costs less than 100,000 yuan ($14,012). With flexible financing options, customers can purchase one with a down payment as low as 800-plus yuan -- a cost-effective solution that has helped logistics enterprises reduce their overall operating expenses while maintaining high delivery efficiency.

China's autonomous driving revolution has accelerated at a remarkable clip, fueled by deliberate state support. A pivotal moment came in 2023 when the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and three other departments issued groundbreaking guidelines for pilot programs permitting L3 and L4 autonomous vehicles on public roads.

The regulatory framework is expanding rapidly across China's innovation hubs. Shenzhen, Shanghai and Hangzhou have already enacted local autonomous vehicle legislation. In a significant expansion of China's autonomous driving infrastructure, Beijing extended its high-level autonomous vehicle demonstration zone from 160 to 600 square kilometers this June.

In the next phase, the MIIT will continue to revise the Road Traffic Safety Law to legally clarify issues such as the operation of autonomous vehicles on public roads, the management of traffic accidents, and the sharing of responsibilities.

Yang highlighted Neolix's breakthrough in autonomous loading/unloading technology in an interview with Xinhua, revealing that the company is currently developing and testing systems for seamless integration between self-driving vehicles, automated warehouses, and smart sorting lines.

He fondly recalled founder Yu's vision during their startup days, "When logistics efficiency reaches its peak, we could build distribution centers in deserts and have autonomous fleets deliver goods to cities overnight."

Neolix's autonomous driving solutions are paving the way for redefining smart logistics infrastructure, exemplifying how China's supply chain revolution continues to push the boundaries of logistical possibility.