Jan. 15, 2025
Source: Rino.ai
January 15 — Qingdao Morning Post Special Report
On the bustling streets of Qingdao, a new type of delivery vehicle has appeared. Without a driver’s cabin, these agile vehicles weave through traffic, intelligently recognizing traffic signals, yielding to pedestrians, and avoiding obstacles. Equipped with cutting-edge autonomous driving technology, they can fully automate parcel deliveries from warehouses to distribution points, significantly reducing the time and frequency couriers spend traveling between outlets and delivery areas. Each driverless delivery vehicle can transport over 1,000 parcels per day.
Since August 1 last year, when driverless delivery vehicles were officially deployed in Qingdao, nearly six months have passed. What convenience have they brought to the express delivery industry? And how have application scenarios evolved?
Lightening the Load for Couriers
Recently, reporters visited an SF Express station in Qingdao and saw a small white electric vehicle slowly drive into the warehouse. After a few taps on its control panel, couriers unloaded dozens of parcels from the vehicle. This was one of SF Express’s Rino.ai autonomous delivery vehicles, in operation for nearly half a year.
With a top speed of 45 km/h, the vehicle features a cargo box measuring 3.4 meters long, 1.2 meters wide, and 1.4 meters high, offering 5.5 cubic meters of cargo space and a payload capacity of 800 kg, able to carry up to 600 parcels.
The Rino.ai driverless delivery vehicle boasts L4-level autonomous driving capability, equipped with automotive-grade LiDAR and 360° perception cameras, enabling it to clearly recognize traffic lights, surrounding vehicles, and obstacles. It can handle roadblocks, traffic lights, and pedestrian yielding scenarios, and operate across urban roads, rural roads, motor vehicle lanes, and non-motorized lanes — all while maintaining safe, stable, fully unmanned driving in rain, snow, and fog.
According to an SF Express representative, the vehicles are mainly used for transportation between warehouses and stations, or between outlets and regional warehouses. After loading parcels at a regional warehouse, the vehicle follows a pre-set route to the next delivery point. Couriers can then set the vehicle’s next destination after loading or unloading, ensuring safe, efficient, and accurate parcel transfers.
“The use of driverless vehicles greatly improves delivery efficiency, saving couriers from the longest leg of the journey and providing high-frequency shuttle services between outlets and parcel pickup stations. This boosts transportation efficiency and reduces costs,” an SF Express courier explained.
Up to 2,000 Parcels in a Single Day
“SF Same-City Express was among the first to use these vehicles. Our intra-city deliveries require same-day service. With driverless delivery vehicles, we only need to handle sorting and doorstep delivery — no more trips to outlets to pick up packages. It’s like saving one to two workers, and our efficiency has doubled. What used to require two vehicles and two couriers can now be done by one person, faster and better,” an SF Same-City courier told reporters.
The vehicles operate on fixed schedules, with precise, predictable dispatch times. On average, a single vehicle can transport over 1,000 parcels per day.
During last year’s Singles’ Day (Double 11) shopping festival, many delivery stations ran their driverless vehicles at full capacity, completing 4–6 trips a day and delivering up to 2,000 parcels daily per vehicle.
According to couriers, the delivery cost per parcel is around RMB 0.20, covering daily maintenance and management of the vehicle. Although revenue per parcel may be lower, the total number of deliveries has doubled, resulting in higher overall income. For example, during last year’s Singles’ Day, courier incomes increased by about 20% compared to previous years.
Expanding to Diverse Delivery Scenarios
Qingdao began deploying driverless delivery vehicles in early 2024. In March, the Qingdao Municipal Bureau of Industry and Information Technology and other departments jointly issued the Interim Measures for Road Testing and Commercial Demonstration Management of Low-Speed Driverless Vehicles, allowing low-speed unmanned vehicles on public roads.
In July 2024, the city’s Joint Working Group on Road Testing and Demonstration Application of Intelligent Connected Vehicles released its first batch of open test road lists, covering 121 roads in eight districts (including Shinan, Shibei, Laoshan, Chengyang, Jimo, and Jiaozhou). Some roads are in high-traffic areas such as Xianggang Middle Road, Donghai Middle Road, Tong’an Road, and Tongchuan Road, with certain sections open only for specific purposes.
On August 1, Qingdao held its Driverless Vehicle Road Test and Parcel Delivery Launch Ceremony, marking the mass deployment of driverless delivery vehicles. The first batch included 40 vehicles from SF Express, YTO Express, and other logistics companies.
Over the following months, companies such as SF, YTO, ZTO, and J&T increased their fleets, expanding operations to multiple districts. By the end of 2024, the city’s driverless delivery vehicle fleet exceeded 150 units.
Beyond express delivery, these vehicles are now widely used in fresh produce delivery for supermarkets and in fixed-route patrols in certain areas.
According to a representative from White Rhino Zhida (Rino.ai), the company is already partnering with new retail brands like Freshippo and Yonghui in other cities to provide low-cost, high-efficiency last-mile connection services.
“With our ongoing innovation and exploration, we plan to work with more logistics companies to expand driverless delivery connections to broader scenarios. Compared with the traditional ‘driver + vehicle’ model, unmanned vehicles have significant cost advantages and higher efficiency, making them highly favored by express delivery clients,” the representative said.
