Chinese company JD to invest $312 million in unmanned vehicles production project

Beijing. June 14. Silkroadnews - China’s e-commerce giant JD will invest 2 billion yuan ($312 million) over the next three years to establish the headquarters of its unmanned delivery vehicles in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, China Daily reports.
The project is aimed at promoting research and development, testing, training of personnel in production of autonomous vehicles, and construction of intelligent industrial production bases, including intelligent robots and equipment.
The company plans to attract 1,000 university graduates and more than 10 teams of experts in Changsha for this purpose in the next five years.
Reportedly, JD has already uses delivery robots in Changsha and plans to test these robots at Hunan University to solve the “last mile delivery” problem - the most expensive part of the parcel delivery costs.
Xiao Jun, vice president of JD, said they will increase investment in production of unmanned vehicles in Changsha. The e-commerce giant invests heavily in intelligent logistics operations, using unmanned aerial vehicles, robotics and unmanned vehicles to deliver parcels, aiming to reduce costs and transform the logistics industry.
Last year, the company used unmanned aerial vehicles to deliver packages to Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi Province in northwestern China, and delivered smart robots to several universities, such as Renmin University in China, Tsinghua University and Zhejiang University.
In September, the e-commerce giant announced it had developed two models of automatic light wagons with SAIC Maxus and Dongfeng, respectively, to deliver goods from JD’s distribution centers to delivery points.