Meituan takes new step on unmanned deliveries

The nation's largest on-demand service provider Meituan launched an open platform for autonomous delivery on Wednesday to accelerate the application and commercialization of autonomous technologies in its online delivery business.

The open platform will combine the efforts of leading autonomous technology and related component companies including robot maker Segway and autonomous driving company AutoX, as well as universities and research institutes, to jointly develop technologies needed for unmanned delivery vehicles.

"Autonomous delivery is never easy. We hope to improve efficiency and accelerate the landing of unmanned delivery through joint efforts of different partners on the open platform," said Wang Huiwen, co-founder and senior deputy president of Meituan.