JD rolls out delivery robots in Guangzhou

The first robots will be sent to 14 residential compounds in Liwan District.

JD’s autonomous delivery vehicles arrived in Guangzhou to provide contactless delivery service to districts under home quarantine due to new COVID-19 cases. This is the third time its delivery robots have been sent to the frontline for pandemic relief efforts, a press release revealed.

The first robots will be sent to 14 residential compounds in Guanggang New Town in Liwan District, to make last-mile delivery for daily necessities, said Qi Kong, chief scientist and head of autonomous driving at JD Logistics.

They are currently planning for the transportation routes and technology testing, Kong added.

During the peak of the pandemic in early 2020, JD allocated the robots in Wuhan for support after one week of preparation time. The robots traveled over 6,800 kilometers and delivered more than 13,000 packages during that time.

Since 2016, JD’s autonomous delivery program has developed from delivery within school campuses to open roads. Powered by the autonomous delivery technology, it can avoid obstacles, recognize traffic lights and drive automatically without human assistance.