(Observer Network News/Zhuang Yi) Limited by ground traffic congestion, high vehicle insecurity, and high labor costs, how can the transportation efficiency of the last one kilometer be improved? The solution provided by Meituan is the construction of urban low-altitude logistics network.

A box of urgently needed medicines is being delivered by drone to Shenzhen’s epidemic-affected communities. One-click ordering and 10-minute steaming takeaways are delivered to doorsteps by drone... This is not a science fiction work. scene, but a scene that has already been realized. In Meituan’s drone application scenario, a low-altitude logistics network with a reach of 3 kilometers and 15 minutes is a goal that has been explored for 4 years.

At the 2021 World Artificial Intelligence Conference held on July 8, Meituan brought its 90 self-developed drones to the public for the first time. Wang Puzhong, senior vice president of Meituan and president of Daojia Business Group, believes that the city’s low-altitude logistics network will become an important opportunity for technological innovation in the next ten or twenty years. The combination of drone life scenes is the best way to build a low-altitude logistics network. path.

Achieving scale in the next 5-10 years

With the continuous advancement of artificial intelligence and other technologies in recent years, urban low-altitude flights have begun to shift from civilian shooting to large-scale industrial use. Different from the plant protection drones that have been widely used in agriculture, the complex building and road conditions in cities bring great challenges to drone flight. Mao Niannian, head of Meituan’s drone business, bluntly said that it is “the most extreme challenge.” ".

First of all, it is technically necessary to ensure safety and reliability during large-scale implementation; secondly, while policies and regulations in the field of commercial drones are not yet complete, it is necessary to work with the government to promote the establishment and implementation of standards; in addition On the user side, it is necessary to establish the user's acceptance and usage mentality.

Mao Niannian said that drones can currently land stably in Category 5 winds and will not operate in rainy and snowy weather for safety reasons, but this problem will be solved in the next three to five years.

In the next one or two years, we hope to be able to operate multiple business districts and multiple routes at the same time; in the next 5-10 years, we will realize the large-scale application of drones and collaborate with takeaway guys to improve work efficiency and improve work experience.

Mao Niannian revealed that in addition to community distribution stations, Meituan is also developing ground receiving devices for apartments, buildings and other scenes. For example, in the ongoing cooperation with Vanke, in the future, you can open the locker in the kitchen and take out the meal boxes delivered by drones.

"What we are exploring is not just the delivery aircraft itself, but we hope to build an urban low-altitude logistics network that integrates autonomous flying drones, automated airports and drone dispatching systems. Through aircraft and navigation control The five self-developed technical capabilities of , AI algorithms, route management, and communication systems can adapt to various scenarios such as communities, shopping malls, and office buildings, allowing drones and riders to form human-machine collaborative delivery, truly realizing 'everything comes to your home.'" Mao Yiannian. express.

Crowds compete for unmanned delivery

The unmanned delivery industry is divided into indoor delivery and outdoor delivery. The equipment for indoor delivery is mainly delivery robots, while for outdoor delivery, it is delivery logistics vehicles and unmanned vehicles. machine.

It is understood that at the beginning of this year, Meituan drones completed the first order delivery task for real users in Shenzhen, and during the subsequent Shenzhen epidemic, it established urban supplies for the Nanshan District of Shenzhen to fight the epidemic. Transport "air channels" to deliver emergency supplies to residents in quarantine areas. As of June 2021, Meituan drones have completed more than 200,000 flight tests and delivered more than 2,500 real orders.

At this conference, in addition to drones, Meituan also brought the unmanned delivery vehicle "Magic Bag 20", which also marks that Meituan's unmanned delivery vehicles have standardized mass production capabilities. Development has entered a new stage. Meituan expects to implement unmanned delivery services in business scenarios such as takeout, grocery shopping, and flash sales in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other regions and cities in the next three years.

In fact, not only Meituan, but also major companies are deploying unmanned delivery.

In 2012, SF Express Chairman Wang Wei proposed the concept of drone logistics. In August 2020, SF Express’s large-scale drone completed the cargo-carrying flight based on business scenarios for the first time. This was also the first time in China that a large-scale drone was launched. Drones are used in logistics scenarios;

JD.com also established the JD.X division in 2016, dedicated to the development and deployment of unmanned delivery tasks. In October 2020, Jingdong’s “Jingying” drone, which has completely independent intellectual property rights, began final assembly and ground testing. This is also the first domestic drone with a load of hundreds of kilograms and the function of in-cabin airdrop;

In 2017, at the same time that Meituan was deploying unmanned delivery, Ele.me had announced the launch of drones, which can deliver takeaways in just 20 minutes on average;

In 2018, Cainiao announced a joint cooperation partners to build 100,000 unmanned equipment; in 2021, Alibaba Chief Technology Officer and Cainiao Chief Technology Officer Cheng Li also proposed that 1,000 logistics unmanned vehicles "Little Man Donkeys" will be invested in campuses and communities in the next year.

Abroad, Amazon, Google, and even Walmart have not stopped exploring unmanned delivery. As early as 2013, Amazon began the research and layout of drone delivery; in December 2017, Amazon completed its first drone delivery test in the Cambridge area of ??England; in September 2020, it obtained the operating qualification of delivery drones.

This is a crowded market. Amazon has predicted that by 2030, half of the orders in the U.S. e-commerce market will be delivered by drone delivery.

Back to the landing business, from the perspective of the last mile of Meituan’s key layout, the Qianzhan Industry Research Institute once stated that the core problem lies in the incompatibility of distribution efficiency, distribution safety and distribution service quality. Reduce costs and increase efficiency on the supply side, and add more intelligent means to optimize.

For distribution logistics vehicles, because the technology is in the experimental stage, the related manufacturing industry chain is imperfect, and the production and maintenance costs remain high, this has led to the government only providing technology research and development policies in practical applications. Non-scenario landing policy.

In addition, the impact of low-altitude flight on public safety has led to policy restrictions on the commercial application of drones, and merchants do not accept delivery robots due to purchase cost considerations, etc. The gap before unmanned delivery. When technology develops for the purpose of inclusiveness, when shouting the slogan of technology for good, at the same time, issues such as personal safety, data security, consumer and business acceptance, policy compliance, etc. that need to be addressed should be carefully considered.

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