March 24, 2022

JD.com has rolled out autonomous vehicles in the city of Shenzhen to deliver groceries through their fresh food supermarket, SEVEN FRESH.

The City of Shenzhen, which links Hong Kong to mainland China, saw a spike in COVID-19 cases earlier this month. China has a strict “zero-COVID” policy, so Shenzhen was put under lockdowns and hit with additional restrictions in an effort to stop the spread of the virus. To ensure food supply with no-contact, JD.com introduced their autonomous delivery vehicles.

Getting a contact-free delivery is relatively simple. Consumers place an order through the SEVEN FRESH app, and that order is then packed and loaded into a storage compartment by a supermarket staff member. The autonomous vehicle then delivers the order to the customer.

According to JD.com, the vehicles are fully automated and capable of traveling up to 100 kilometers. They’re all equipped with laser sensor cameras in order to avoid obstacles automatically and go through a strict quality test before launching.

“The manufacturing for these vehicles includes over 50 processes and over 140 checks for quality to ensure its stability,” Dr. Qi Kong, Chief Scientist and Head of JD’s autonomous driving technology, said back in June.

The Chinese e-commerce giant has been working on expanding their autonomous delivery vehicles for some time now. In June 2021 the company announced that 30 new autonomous vehicles would be introduced in Changshu, Jiangsu province to help transform it into a smart delivery city. Those vehicles were equipped to support “scheduled delivery” services, allowing customers to pick a designated time for the vehicle to come to their doorstep. 

Cases of COVID in Shenzhen have since decreased, and a week-long lockdown was lifted earlier this week. However, restrictions are still in place. For example, residents have to show a negative test before taking public transportation or entering a grocery store. Restaurants are also limiting the number of people dining in. And according to South China Morning Post, the southern part of Futian, which borders Hong Kong, remains under lockdown. As SeafoodNews reported earlier this week, Hong Kong is experiencing a fifth wave of the virus and reporting the world’s highest COVID-19 death rate.

Photo Credit: JD.com

Amanda Buckle
Urner Barry
1-732-240-5330
abuckle@urnerbarry.com