China Post and Deppon Express, two of China’s largest delivery and logistics companies, will begin autonomous package delivery services in April using technology developed by FABU, a self-driving startup with offices in the US and China. The partnership marks the first time self-driving vehicles are being put into daily commercial use in China, according to FABU.
FABU first partnered with China Post in November 2018 to begin testing Level 4 autonomous driving trucks in China’s heavily populated Zhejiang Province. In Level 4 autonomous driving, the vehicle handles the majority of driving situations independently although a human driver can still take control when needed. During the testing period, the autonomous trucks successfully drove over 2,200 miles and delivered over 60,000 parcels during China’s peak shopping season, which includes Singles’ Day, Christmas and Chinese New Year.
China Post is the state-owned enterprise that operates the official postal service of mainland China. The service operates over 39,000 transport vehicles, which travel over a delivery network with 1,926,250 miles of streets and highways.