At a YTO Express outlet in Foshan, Guangdong province, courier Wang Kangkang finishes loading bags of parcels into a driverless van about the size of a golf cart, closes the cargo door and taps "depart" on his phone.
The vehicle, supplied by autonomous-driving company Neolix, pulls away on its own, joining regular traffic on a 3-kilometer run to a neighborhood parcel station. The route takes about 20 minutes, passing traffic lights, a speed bump and a narrow lane.
"This route is fixed. Once it's set, I don't have to watch it all the way," Wang said. "It's much easier than making the trip myself on a three-wheeler."
Such short, repetitive runs are emerging as one of the more practical uses for autonomous vehicles in China's vast parcel network.
Before the van was introduced, couriers at the outlet ferried parcels between the two sites on electric three-wheelers. Moving about 1,000 parcels could require at least two trips, according to outlet manager Ouyang Chaoyang.
The outlet estimates that its short-distance transfer costs have fallen by about 30 percent since it began using the vehicle last year, while the time couriers spend shuttling back and forth has been cut by about 40 percent.
"The time saved can be used for collecting parcels and making door-to-door deliveries," Ouyang said. "Those are the parts of the job where couriers can create more value."
The Foshan operation is part of a wider rollout. By the end of 2024, more than 6,000 autonomous delivery vehicles had been put into large-scale use across more than 100 types of applications nationwide, according to the State Post Bureau of China.
At one parcel station in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, more than 20 driverless vehicles handle over 30 percent of deliveries, with each carrying at least 1,500 parcels a day. Elsewhere, autonomous vehicles are being used in relay delivery models in cities such as Beijing, while some are serving villages in remote areas where conventional delivery is more costly and time-consuming.
In Foshan, their use is also extending beyond conventional parcel delivery. Small retailers can book shared driverless vans through mobile platforms to move goods between stores or replenish stock, rather than operating a vehicle of their own.
"For parcel companies, the routes are usually fixed and scheduled, more like a bus service," said Liang Haohua, head of marketing for South China at Neolix. "For smaller businesses, demand is more ad hoc — closer to ride-hailing."
The approach is still developing, but it suggests that the economics of autonomous delivery may depend as much on keeping vehicles busy as on the technology that allows them to drive themselves.
Scaling up also involves more than navigating traffic.
Foshan currently has 124 autonomous vehicles in the postal and express sector undergoing road tests on 219 routes, according to the Foshan Postal Administration. The city has been developing rules covering road access, testing, insurance, safety supervision and accident handling.
Similar questions remain elsewhere, as rules on routes, road access and stopping can vary among cities. That can make it harder for operators to replicate the same model across regions even as the technology matures, according to Jiang Haoran, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference who has studied the sector.
For now, the clearest role for driverless vans may be less futuristic than delivering a parcel directly to someone's door. They are taking over predictable journeys between depots, parcel stations, shops and villages, leaving couriers to handle the more complicated human end of the delivery chain.
About 20 minutes after leaving the YTO outlet in Foshan, Wang's van reaches the parcel station. It slows, signals and pulls over. Staff scan the vehicle, open it and begin unloading the parcels. Moments later, the doors close again and the van quietly sets off for its next stop.