Unmanned Vehicles Support the “Last-Mile Delivery” in Shanghai Epidemic

“Last-mile delivery” problems in Shanghai Epidemic

As Shanghai enters a critical period of epidemic prevention and control, many subdistrict communities are under control, and these areas are also facing the problem of insufficient transportation capacity under the huge pressure of material supply. Many riders are unable to work due to the epidemic closure and control, which makes the citizens feel that last-mile delivery is terrible… . To make the “last-mile delivery” a reality, Meituan, Neolix, JD.com, and other unmanned vehicles equipped with lidar build an “anti-epidemic defense line” for Shanghai. Through contactless distribution, unmanned vehicles can effectively alleviate the demanding problem of last-mile delivery in the current Shanghai community’s fight against the epidemic, allowing Shanghai citizens to receive epidemic prevention materials faster and more safely.

Internet giants support to fight against the Shanghai epidemic with unmanned vehicles

On April 10, at a press conference on epidemic prevention and control in Shanghai, Wang Wenbo, vice president of JD.com Group, said that JD Logistics has continued to increase investment in transportation capacity, and has used intelligent logistics technology to improve efficiency, and has dispatched a large number of the latest fifth-generation smart delivery carts in the closed and controlled areas, will put more unmanned vehicles into use in the future.

Last week, Mao Fang, vice president of Meituan, announced that Meituan will dispatch a batch of unmanned vehicles from Beijing and put them into use in Shanghai. At about the same time, some Shanghai residents discovered that dozens of yellow vehicles stopped at the entrance of the Meituan grocery shopping station near the community. Slightly smaller in size than sedan cars, these “little yellow cars” are Meituan’s new generation of automatic delivery vehicles that can carry over 150 kilograms at one time. It only takes 10 minutes for the back and forth delivery to the community, and each time it is fully disinfected.

In addition, Meituan’s unmanned vehicles also actively cooperate with volunteers in the community to jointly carry out material distribution work, saving volunteers’ physical strength and time. The whole process of contactless distribution also eases the work of epidemic prevention and protection. This is the seventh time that Meituan’s yellow vehicles have served the front line to support the fight against the epidemic. Before this, these vehicles served in Beijing, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, etc.

To release manpower, alleviate the overloaded work intensity of community workers, and further realize “contactless delivery”, unmanned vehicles have become an essential role in Shanghai’s fight against the epidemic. With the accumulation of anti-epidemic experience in the past two years, unmanned delivery has reached the level of scene operation. With the support of policies and capital, as well as the maturity of the industrial chain, unmanned delivery vehicles may usher in greater development space in the next three years.

Autonomous driving startups joined the fight against the epidemic

Not only the leading Internet giants but also autonomous driving startups have joined the fight against the epidemic, supporting Shanghai with technology. For example, the HAOMO.AI Little Motuo entered some subdistrict communities to deliver express delivery, daily necessities, medicines, and anti-epidemic supplies for residents to help the community fight the epidemic.

Neolix unmanned vehicles also entered 6 closed communities in Shanghai, to provide unmanned vegetable sales services for the residents. As of April 1, nearly 2.5 tons of vegetables were sold by Neolix vehicles. The new model of vegetable sales has effectively helped solve the problem of difficulty in grocery shopping in some communities in Shanghai and ensured the safe and timely supply of residents’ living materials.

This is not the first time Neolix has put the vehicles in use for urban technology to fight the epidemic. Since the start of the epidemic in 2020, Neolix has used unmanned vehicles for material distribution and disinfection spraying in Shenzhen, Suzhou, Chengdu, and other epidemic areas.

Unmanned vehicles and LiDAR

In the face of the epidemic, these intelligent unmanned vehicles operate around the clock, replacing people working in various scenarios to serve people trapped in closed communities. Those unmanned delivery vehicles cannot work without the perception tool – LiDAR, which is the eyes for the vehicles to run smoothly by avoiding obstacles.

The Meituan automatic unmanned vehicles and Neolix unmanned vehicles both are equipped with LiDAR. As the “eyes” of robots, LiDAR actively emits laser light to measure the accurate distance to the target, gives the vehicles three-dimensional vision, and provides the vehicles with accurate perception capabilities to identify complex road conditions and ensure safe driving and delivery.

 According to the official introduction, the above-mentioned unmanned vehicles have L4 level automatic driving capabilities, which can meet the needs of epidemic prevention materials distribution from single point to multi-point. The vehicles are equipped with sensors such as LiDAR and high-definition cameras to ensure the safety of automatic driving capabilities. After completing the preliminary vehicle debugging and road condition test, the vehicle can drive autonomously according to the route instructions, complete the delivery task without contact, and minimize the risk of human exposure to Covid-19.

On the whole, many Chinese technology companies are deploying unmanned distribution for the Shanghai epidemic, and to a certain extent, they have the level of operation in actual scenarios. On the front line of the fight against the epidemic, the unmanned delivery vehicle team equipped with lidar has the advantages of “zero contact” and “all-weather”. While effectively alleviating the shortage of transportation capacity, unmanned vehicles can reduce the contact between people and people, people and the epidemic area, and reduce the risk of human exposure to Covid-19 to the greatest extent.  

Neuvition Titan S2 flash LiDAR

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