At 10:00 AM on May 19, after a staff member scanned a code for confirmation, an autonomous logistics vehicle with the license plate "Ji RA0010" slowly departed from the YTO Express Aimin Road outlet in Guangyang District, Langfang City, heading towards a community parcel station 3 kilometers away. Today, such unmanned logistics vehicles have become a common sight on the streets of both urban and rural Langfang.
It was recently learned from the Langfang Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology that, as of now, the city has deployed over 260 autonomous logistics vehicles. This represents a more than fivefold increase since April of last year, with coverage extending across the main urban area and key counties (cities, districts) around Beijing, such as Gu'an, Xianghe, and Dachang. The city is breaking through the limitations of traditional delivery models, continuously exploring market demand, expanding service areas, and striving to create various specialized application scenarios.
At the Aimin Road outlet, three autonomous vehicles can be seen queuing to be loaded. "One autonomous vehicle handles approximately 2,000 deliveries per day on average. Each vehicle can save between 40,000 to 50,000 yuan annually in labor and vehicle maintenance costs, reducing operating expenses by up to 60%. It also enables 24/7 uninterrupted operation," said Zhao Zhiqiang, deputy manager of the outlet. He noted that the flexibility, convenience, and round-the-clock operation of these vehicles can effectively address the shortfall in urban short-distance delivery capacity, making daily parcel sending and receiving more convenient and efficient for residents.
Addressing the pain points of high costs, low efficiency, and difficult coverage in the final leg of rural parcel delivery, companies in the autonomous vehicle sector are continuously optimizing their self-driving algorithms. This enhances the vehicles' ability to navigate complex road sections and extends their delivery range. "Previously, rural parcels required manual secondary transfer at township outlets. Now, autonomous vehicles can travel directly from county-level distribution centers to village-level end stations, improving delivery efficiency by 30%," said Dong Yang, Langfang regional head of Neolix (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd. This change frees couriers from time-consuming and labor-intensive trunk line transportation, allowing them to focus on the "last 100 meters" of door-to-door delivery and high-value-added collection services, thereby extending smart logistics services to the furthest reaches of rural areas.
Langfang is also actively expanding smart logistics scenarios related to public services, bringing unmanned delivery closer to people's daily lives. It was observed that in the healthcare sector, White Rhino autonomous vehicles provide 24-hour medicine delivery for city-wide chain pharmacies, promptly meeting needs such as nighttime restocking and emergency deliveries. Cainiao's autonomous vehicles have partnered with the Langfang Central Blood Station for blood transportation, ensuring stable and efficient daily blood supply operations. In the fresh food cold chain and commercial circulation sectors, Jiushi autonomous vehicles not only deliver fresh ingredients for chain catering enterprises but have also entered the Langfang Northern Agricultural Trade Wholesale Market, providing instant delivery services for fruit and vegetable merchants, effectively shortening the circulation time for fresh produce.
The rapid development of autonomous logistics vehicles and the successful implementation of numerous new scenarios are attributed to pioneering policies and robust support systems. In January 2025, Langfang took the lead in Hebei Province by formulating the "Langfang City Provisional License Plate Coding Rules, Standard Formats, and Application Guidelines for Unmanned Driving Equipment," creating a tailored "ID card" for autonomous logistics vehicles. In January of this year, the city issued the "Langfang City Management Measures for Road Testing and Commercial Application of Unmanned Driving Equipment (Trial)," further improving the comprehensive regulatory framework covering application access, road usage, parking operations, and accident handling for unmanned equipment. This favorable development environment has attracted leading domestic autonomous vehicle companies such as Neolix, Jiushi Intelligent, and White Rhino Zhida to establish operations in Langfang. It has also spurred the coordinated development of local upstream and downstream enterprises in operations services, logistics equipment, and data support, forming an industrial ecosystem characterized by "leading enterprises + local supporting enterprises + diverse application scenarios."
"Langfang is located within the golden triangle of Beijing, Tianjin, and Xiong'an, with a daily parcel transit and processing capacity exceeding 37 million items. It possesses unique advantages for developing smart logistics," stated a representative from the Logistics Development Service Center of the Langfang Municipal Bureau of Commerce. The upcoming Langfang Economic and Trade Fair in June will feature a dedicated exhibition area for robotics and automation application scenarios, showcasing comprehensive smart logistics chain solutions, including unmanned delivery, to further reduce logistics costs in Langfang.
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