Fabu moves autonomous driving forward with deliveries

The commercialization of autonomous driving has taken another step forward in China, as Chinese driverless truck startup Fabu Technology said on Thursday its self-driving technologies have enabled over 60,000 express deliveries by February this year.

The move also marks one of China's first autonomous trucks to be put into daily use, after several e-commerce and tech companies including JD jumped on the bandwagon for automation trials with the aim of improving overall efficiency of the trucking industry.

Since Nov 11, the country's Singles Day online shopping gala, the company's Level 4 autonomous trucking technologies have been commercialized in southern China, said Fabu founder and CEO He Xiaofei, also former senior deputy president and a top self-driving expert for Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing.

"Such trucks have run a total of 3,600 kilometers in different weather and scenarios, delivering more than 60,000 goods in that time," he said.

Fabu, together with China Post and Deppon Express, has developed three routes. On average, each road contains around 50 crossroads and 26 traffic lights.

"This is of significance, as autonomous delivery has succeeded in heavy weather, including snow and rain, and also during night and in tunnels," He noted.

The startup told China Daily it also aims to expand 100 such routes for commercial use in the near future.

According to global management consulting firm Bain & Company, China has become the world's biggest road transportation market, and the nation's road freight has amounted to 6.1 trillion metric ton-kilometers with a fleet of more than 5 million heavy-duty trucks and over 14 million light and medium trucks.