Surging delivery pressure: Neolix unmanned vehicles help Yunda Express maintain efficiency | Yunqi Tech π

"Yunqi Tech π" shares updates from Yunqi Capital's portfolio companies, exploring how cutting-edge technology pushes the boundaries of real-world applications and tracking the present and future of tech commercialization. In this edition, we bring you the latest from Yunqi Series A portfolio company Neolix.

➤➤➤ Recently, as COVID outbreaks strained Beijing's delivery capacity, "logistics exception alerts" became unavoidable. To ease the pressure, logistics companies rolled out incentive policies — subsidies, overtime pay — to encourage couriers to expand their delivery radius and extend working hours. Meanwhile, district commerce bureaus across Beijing appealed to residents to voluntarily join the delivery workforce as temporary riders to help address the urgent shortage.

While courier companies faced warehouse backlogs, stretched capacity, and overwhelmed staff, one express delivery station was running "in an orderly fashion" — getting every package to its destination "precisely, every single day." That station was Yunda Beijing Nanhai Branch's Xingye Service Center.

According to the Yunda branch manager, the Xingye Service Center normally operates with a full staff of 35; on this particular day, 27 showed up for work. Thanks to the addition of Neolix autonomous delivery vehicles, the station's last-mile delivery service was unaffected by the staffing shortage. Operations remained efficient, stable, and orderly, with a consistent daily volume of 8,000 parcels — fully sufficient to meet residents' daily needs across the service area. This was the second time Ms. Li, who works at Chaolin Plaza on Beijing's Ronghua Middle Road, received a package delivered by an unmanned vehicle. She said the first time she got the SMS notification, she was especially curious. She went to the designated pickup point downstairs, entered the pickup code on the screen, and the door opened. The whole process took less than two minutes — very convenient.

The emergence of Neolix autonomous vehicles has undoubtedly become a "shot in the arm" for urban last-mile delivery. According to station manager Zhang Kai: "Recently, with more people staying home due to COVID, online orders for medical supplies and daily necessities have surged, putting considerable pressure on delivery operations. Fortunately, we had the foresight to partner with Neolix back in October. The 32 unmanned vehicles we brought in immediately took over parcel delivery and short-haul transfer work at the station. We also planned out 32 routes for them, achieving full coverage of unmanned delivery across our service area."

Of course, Neolix vehicles can shoulder such heavy responsibilities thanks to their "large capacity, strong perception, and long range." According to a Neolix representative, the vehicles recently deployed are the latest X3P model, with a maximum payload of 600 kg. Combining the triple advantages of "AI," "robotics," and "electric vehicle," they enable AI-powered intelligent dispatch, omnidirectional monitoring, and cloud-based management. Their L4 autonomous driving system flexibly handles complex road conditions and traffic light recognition during delivery, and supports operation in sunshine, haze, light rain, nighttime, and other conditions. With 30-second battery swaps and a full-charge range of 200 km, their round-the-clock continuous operation and innovative technology have won them countless fans.

According to Zhang Kai, Neolix vehicles have also helped them pioneer a "brand new" working model. "Back-office staff at the service center can assist frontline couriers by loading parcels onto the unmanned vehicles and, based on courier needs, transporting multi-frequency shipments from the station to transfer points — saving couriers over two hours of round-trip loading time and boosting each courier's delivery efficiency by more than 150 parcels per day, while also significantly reducing physical strain and improving road safety. Additionally, for some pickup points, we use the unmanned vehicles for direct delivery. And of course, when customers have large shipping volumes and couriers can't keep up, the station can dispatch an unmanned vehicle to the customer's location to collect packages. The customer simply enters an opening code, loads the parcels into the cargo compartment, and the vehicle returns on its own — eliminating the manual pickup process entirely. Very convenient."

Today, walking the streets of Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, you can see these endearing unmanned vehicles everywhere, fully loaded with goods, busy amid the bustle of the city — measuring out the warmth and care of this city with their wheels, bringing thousands of families the entirely new service experience of autonomous driving, much to their delight.

Yunqi Capital remains focused on "Technology Innovation, Industrial Empowerment." Intelligent driving is one of Yunqi's sustained areas of focus. Beyond Neolix, Yunqi made early bets on outstanding companies including Yunqi Capital, Juefei Technology, and Zhuishi Technology. Yunqi continues to track excellent startups in relevant sectors and looks forward to growing alongside more technical founders.