Meituan, Neolix, and Idriverplus deploy sidewalk and road-going delivery robots that carry food, packages, and groceries. By mid-2025, over 100 Chinese cities had opened roads to unmanned delivery vehicles — often before formal regulations were written.
The regulatory approach is notable: China let companies deploy first and regulated afterward, gathering real-world data to inform rules rather than trying to anticipate every scenario in advance. Meituan logged 500,000+ kilometers of autonomous delivery before national guidelines were issued.
The business case is strongest for 'last-mile' delivery in dense urban areas where labor costs are rising and traffic congestion makes human delivery slow. The robots typically operate on sidewalks at 5-15 km/h, handling deliveries within a 3 km radius of a merchant.