China uses autonomous vans and drones to boost rural delivery efficiency

BEIJING, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese logistics companies are using autonomous vans and drones to facilitate parcel delivery in rural and remote areas, making services faster and more affordable for millions of residents while strengthening two-way flows of goods between cities and the countryside.

According to official statistics, 95 percent of China's villages now have access to delivery services. However, with logistics hubs still concentrated near cities, industrial centers and towns, efficiency in remote areas remains constrained by long distances and challenging terrain, leading to slower deliveries and higher transportation costs.

With continued improvements in rural road infrastructure and expanding internet coverage, logistics providers are now addressing the "last mile" challenge by deploying autonomous vans and drones.

In Chongyang County in central China's Hubei Province, battery-powered autonomous delivery vans transport parcels to villages around 30 km from the distribution center. Traveling at speeds of about 30 km per hour, these vehicles are equipped with cameras and radar systems that enable them to detect cars and pedestrians.

"Each autonomous delivery vehicle costs around 2,000 yuan (about 280 U.S. dollars) to operate per month but can handle the workload of two drivers and two delivery vans, saving approximately 10,000 yuan monthly," said Cheng Quan, general manager of the sorting center at Hubei Chuangxuan Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd.

In Guangrao County of eastern China's Shandong Province, logistics costs have declined after more than 20 autonomous delivery vans were integrated into the delivery network of LianDa TongCang logistics company.

"With the help of these vehicles, the average per-parcel delivery cost has dropped from 0.15 yuan to 0.05 yuan," said Niu Junjie, head of the company, adding that parcels are now delivered twice daily at speeds comparable to those in urban areas.

Over the past decades, China has developed an extensive network of highways, railways and air routes that enable the rapid expansion of its delivery services. In 2025, China handled 199 billion parcels, up 13.7 percent year on year, maintaining its position as the world's largest parcel market for 12 consecutive years. More than 100 million parcels are delivered to and from rural areas every day in 2025, according to State Post Bureau officials. That amounts to roughly 40 billion parcels annually, accounting for about 20 percent of total deliveries.

As logistics infrastructure continues to improve and rural consumption demand rises, industry analysts note that rural deliveries are expected to keep growing, creating an expanding market that will require increasingly diverse services.

In Jiagedaqi District of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, where temperatures can drop to minus 40 degrees Celsius in winter and heavy snowfall often isolates villages, local postal services have begun using drones to improve delivery in bad weather.

"With a payload capacity of 100 kg, a flight endurance of three hours, and a range of 50 km, these drones are helping deliver supplies to some of the most remote areas," said Xiao Yu, a drone operator in Jiagedaqi. "In most cases, terrain and bad weather no longer cause significant delays in deliveries."

The use of autonomous vehicles and drones reflects China's broader push for rural revitalization through enhanced logistics infrastructure and technological innovation. In addition, local logistics operators are adopting technologies and systems such as intelligent sorting equipment, automated sorting centers, and unmanned pickup stations to streamline operations, improve logistics efficiency, reduce operating costs, and further strengthen the rural logistics network.

"Express logistics has greatly facilitated online consumption in rural areas and continuously improved the user experience," said Xu Liangfeng, deputy director of the Data Management Division at the State Post Bureau.

According to the official, rural express services in central and western China are expanding rapidly, with a growing volume of agricultural products -- such as fruit -- being shipped nationwide through express delivery networks.

In Shiqiao Village in northwestern China's Gansu Province, farmer Cui Yunxing has already benefited from improved delivery services. The pears he cultivates are now shipped via express delivery, reaching urban customers within a day. As a result, transportation-related losses have decreased by 30 percent, and his income has increased significantly.

"I used to worry that my pears would spoil during transport, so I hesitated to sell in large quantities. Now that's no longer a concern," he said, adding that he plans to expand production and sell nationwide through express delivery.

China's 15th five-year plan on accelerating agricultural and rural modernization calls for improving the rural commercial and logistics system and enhancing coordination across the production, supply, and marketing of agricultural products. In line with this goal, the State Post Bureau plans to issue policy documents in 2026 to accelerate the adoption of unmanned delivery technologies and expand pilot applications of unmanned vehicles, drones and related innovations, with the aim of enhancing capacity building and improving the quality and efficiency of rural parcel delivery and logistics networks.

During an inspection tour earlier this month in Zhejiang Province, east China, Zhao Chongjiu, head of the State Post Bureau, emphasized the need to leverage technological innovation to drive the high-quality development of the delivery and logistics sector.

He called for greater attention to frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence, accelerated transformation and application of scientific and technological achievements, and expanded use of new technologies and products across the industry.