Robo-deliveries are now a reality in China

Only the beginning: Attendees looking into the window of a Neolix autonomous vending-machine vehicle at its launch in Changzhou, Jiangsu province, last month. The company has kicked off mass production of its autonomous vehicles. — Bloomberg

FORGET drones. The future of deliveries may be robo-vans.

A Chinese startup called Neolix kicked off mass production of its self-driving delivery vehicles over a week ago – saying it’s the first company globally to do so – and has lined up giants such as JD.Com Inc and Huawei Technologies Co as customers. Neolix expects to deliver a thousand of the vehicles, which resemble tiny vans, within the first year as it broadens out.