26 Unmanned Delivery Vehicles in Our City Handle 450,000 Parcels Monthly; “Smart Vehicles” Run on “Smart Roads”

From: Lianyungang Daily Updated: 2025-09-20 09:47

Around 8 a.m. on September 17, under the morning sun at the Xinpu Smart Logistics Park in Haizhou District, an unmanned delivery vehicle from J&T Express slowly departed from the distribution center. Using LiDAR to accurately identify road conditions, it transported over 500 parcels to a service point in the Xin Hai Ming Jun residential community. This scene of intelligent delivery has now become a common sight on the streets of Lianyungang City. It is reported that the city currently has 26 unmanned delivery vehicles in operation, handling an average of 450,000 parcels per month. Unmanned delivery is accelerating from pilot operations towards a new stage of full regional openness, with technological power continuously enhancing the “smart arteries” of the city’s urban logistics.

From curiosity to trust, public acceptance and recognition bear witness to the transformation of unmanned vehicles from experimental products to a vital workforce. At the Xin Hai Ming Jun service point, the person in charge, Zhang, skillfully pressed a button on the vehicle, opened the compartment, and retrieved the parcels. Zhang explained, “This vehicle sets off from the distribution center and usually arrives at the point in about 40 minutes. It makes a fixed trip every morning, saving the round trip time for trucks and also reducing labor costs.” Li, a resident living nearby who witnessed the process, couldn’t help but exclaim, “I never thought the day would come when an unmanned vehicle would deliver my packages. Technology is truly changing our lives!”

This “human-vehicle collaboration” model is also changing the way couriers work. Zhao, a supervisor at Lianyungang YTO Express, explained that unmanned vehicles effectively share the delivery pressure during peak periods and in adverse weather conditions. “Previously, when the parcel volume was high, we had to push through even if we were short-handed. Now, unmanned vehicles can handle nearly half of the short-distance delivery tasks, increasing overall efficiency by over 40%. This allows our couriers to focus more on handling large or special items, improving both service quality and employee satisfaction.”

“Unmanned vehicles not only improve efficiency but also reshape the logistics system,” Zhao added. Through an intelligent dispatch system, unmanned vehicles can autonomously plan optimal routes, avoid traffic congestion in real-time, and even automatically return for charging when battery levels are low—advantages unmatched by traditional delivery methods. Furthermore, to ensure operational safety, all vehicles are equipped with a dual-mode system of “autonomous driving + remote manual control”, and each vehicle is insured with liability coverage of no less than 2 million RMB, ensuring comprehensive operational safety.

The smooth operation of unmanned delivery vehicles relies on both institutional and technical support. Earlier this year, the Municipal Postal Administration, Public Security Bureau, and Transport Bureau jointly issued a pilot notice, initially opening four routes covering areas from Zhenhua East Road to the Gangcheng Avenue loop, as well as urban-rural routes from Punan Town to Banpu Town. By early September, Haizhou District had expanded to nine routes, gradually forming a “multi-point linkage, covering urban and rural areas” delivery network. The next step involves relevant departments and enterprises focusing on testing the vehicles’ driving capabilities in complex traffic environments and adverse weather conditions like rain and snow, promoting the extension of application scenarios from current residential areas and campuses to broader commercial districts, industrial parks, and even townships, truly achieving “full regional openness”.

With the deep integration of technologies like 5G and artificial intelligence, unmanned delivery is demonstrating even greater potential. In the future, unmanned vehicles might not only deliver parcels but also expand into areas like food delivery, fresh groceries, and pharmaceuticals, realizing an intelligent delivery network for “everything to your home”. From distribution centers to community stations, from urban main roads to rural concrete paths, these mobile “smart cabinets” are weaving a smart logistics network, using the power of technology to make intelligent logistics a new hallmark of modern urban governance.