JD.com announces patents for unmanned driving, unmanned delivery starts?

 Unmanned distribution has become the development trend of the logistics industry to get through the "last mile"

Recently, according to news from Tianyan , Beijing Jingdong Century Trading Co., Ltd., an affiliate of JD.com, has added a new piece of patent information on "an unmanned driving control method and device". The patent application date is May 24, 2019, and the application announcement date is November 24 this year.

The patent abstract shows that the present invention discloses an unmanned driving control method and device, which relates to the field of computer technology. Through the coordinated control of vehicle speed and steering, precise control of unmanned vehicles is realized, and the position and attitude requirements of unmanned vehicles at the end of a specific scene are met at the same time.

In recent years, the contribution of Jingdong's logistics sector revenue to the group's total revenue has increased significantly, and it has become a key driver of steady growth in performance. JD’s financial report shows that the proportion of revenue from logistics and other services has increased significantly from 16.8% and 27% in 2017 and 2018 to 35.5% in 2019.

Unmanned vehicle transportation is one of the key directions of JD Logistics. As early as 2016, JD.com established the "X Division" focusing on scientific and technological research and development in the logistics field. The strategic direction is to implement the three aspects of drones, unmanned vehicles and unmanned warehouses, and use artificial intelligence to standardize the entire logistics system.

From the perspective of cost reduction and efficiency enhancement, unmanned distribution has become the development trend of the logistics industry to get through the "last mile". Public information shows that the distribution cost accounts for about 50% of the total logistics cost. Using unmanned vehicles to do to C distribution and short transfers (the logistics scene between the site and the delivery staff) is the best solution.

For the above reasons, Amazon is also actively deploying unmanned logistics. In June of this year, Amazon acquired the autonomous driving startup Zoox in order to improve terminal distribution efficiency with the help of unmanned vehicle technology. In addition, Meituan's unmanned distribution test operation project MAI Shop landed in Beijing Shougang Park, providing more imagination for intra-city distribution.

There are still many problems that need to be solved in unmanned logistics technology, such as battery technology, true coverage of 5G networks, corresponding policies and regulations, and industry standards that need to be further standardized and improved. Whether it can be implemented in complex life scenarios is still unknown.