Chinese e-commerce company JD.com has launched robot delivery vehicles in more than 10 cities to tackle a growing labour shortage. The move comes a year after it debuted AI-guided autonomous vehicles. Cameras and other sensors steer the vehicles and customers are texted a password to unlock the vehicle when the delivery arrives. The service is available in cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing. In China, there have been reports of people being paid by companies for delivering packages on their own or using robots to do so.
Chinese e-commerce company JD.com has launched robot delivery vehicles in more than 10 cities to tackle a growing labour shortage. The move comes a year after it debuted AI-guided autonomous vehicles. Cameras and other sensors steer the vehicles and customers are texted a password to unlock the vehicle when the delivery arrives. The service is available in cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing. JD.com also plans to expand its network of unmanned shops, which customers can access using a smartphone.