Autonomous Logistics Players in China (Part 2)
Robotaxi and automated logistics are considered the two most rapid adoptions of autonomous vehicle technologies at scale. In an earlier article, I went through the robotaxi progress with a few Chinese companies. In this article, I give an overview of the players in autonomous logistics industry of China.
There are mainly 4 categories of logistics:
See Part One here. This is Part Two covering 2nd half of the list.
Neolix 新石器
Tag: last mile delivery, mobile retail, surveillance, L4, global
Neolix was founded in 2015 to develop and produce autonomous vehicles with the mission to reconstruct the infrastructure for future city logistics. The company is able to customize and deliver L4 vehicles for various scenarios like moving vendors, last mile deliveries, and patrol as well as to provide the corresponding service platform.
In China, Neolix vehicles have been seen in tourist attractions, schools, parks, of which most are used as moving vendors. Overseas, they just signed an order with the Middle East e-commerce company Noon for 5,000 vehicles.
Xingshen 行深智能
Tag: last mile delivery, production plant logistics, L4, China
Founded in 2018, Xingshen Intelligent Technology has been devoted to autonomous driving technologies. The first product is for last mile delivery — JD.com, EMS and Ele (food delivery platform) are reported to be running deliveries with Xingshen customized vehicles in certain cities. The company has also expanded logistics solutions for production plant this year mainly carrying materials and is in testing phrase with a partner.
White Rhino 白犀牛
Tag: last mile delivery, L4, China
White Rhino started in early 2019 with a focus on autonomous vehicles for last mile delivery. The 1st testing vehicle was launched in July this year. As of now there is no known partnerships.
Westwell Lab 西井科技
Tag: smart port, smart mine, L4, global
Westwell Lab was founded in 2016 to develop deep learning AI chips and on top of which to build full stack solutions to enable smart port, smart mine, etc.
One of their main products is Q-truck, an electric heavy-duty fully autonomous truck with no cockpit and Westwell is able to mass-produce with orders. Designed for port scenario, Q-truck can also lift, move and load containers autonomously. The company also provides intelligent cargo handling system, smart port infrastructure upgrade, and so on.
Zhuhai Port in Guangdong province was the first one tested back in January 2018 and by now, the smart port solutions have been adopted in 38 ports globally including an export order to Sweden. Meantime, Westwell is exploring smart mine solutions together with a large mining corporation Tibet Summit.
Trunk 主线科技
Tag: smart port, L4
Founded in 2017, Trunk concentrates on L4 autonomous driving solutions for logistics industry. Their commercial strategy has 3 parts: special scenario (port), highway and city roads.
In 2018, Trunk partnered with China National Heavy Duty Truck Group/Sinotruck on autonomous electric trucks for Tianjing Port, which went into trial operation. In 2019 the company signed with China Merchant Port, China’s biggest port operator. Meantime, Trunk has obtained a test license and started L4 testing on highway, executing the 2nd step of commercialization. Also in 2019 the venture capital arm of the Bosch Group made an investment to the company.
VIPioneers 慧拓智能
Tap: smart mine, L4
VIPioneers was founded in 2014 to develop automated mining solutions. So far, they have fostered strategic partnerships with multiple heavy-duty industrial vehicle manufacturers and energy groups where the contracts value at nearly RMB 100million. One of the projects for Datang International’s Baoli coal mine has been in commercial operation since September 2019 after a 5 months trial.
Tage Idriver 踏歌智行
Tag: smart mine, L4
Tage was founded in 2016 as an autonomous driving solutions provider for open-pit mining. The company tested its first autonomous truck at a mining site in June 2018 and started trial operation at Baiyun Ebo Mine this year. They have signed contracts with multiple mining companies and OEMs with estimated value of over RMB 100million.
EQ/Yikong 易控智驾
Tag: smart mine, L4, China
EQ was started in 2018 to develop smart mining solutions. EQ currently partners with Xi’an Tongly and two of their autonomous trucks are being tested in Erdos mining area. Feedback so far is good. The next step is to build a fleet of 8–10 trucks for trial operation.
Additional Players and Smart Mine Summary
Besides the three mentioned above, there are Boonray (伯镭科技), CiDi (希迪智驾), BuilderX (拓疆者), etc. working on smart mine solutions in China.
Automated mining process has been proven to reduce cost and increase efficiency by overseas players like Caterpillar and Komatsu. The R&D started long time ago and they achieved commercialization 7–8 years ago.
At this point, Chinese players are at angel or series A funding stage and individual valuation has not exceeded RMB 1 billion although the market potential is much bigger.
BuilderX is focused on automated excavator solutions, and the rest offer full stack smart mine solutions particularly autonomous trucks. The business model is to either retrofit their solutions onto existing vehicles and infrastructure or to deliver autonomous trucks by partnering with OEMs as well as the corresponding back-office control and operation systems.
The latter would be the key strategy to achieve scale and commercial value, but the challenge is who would eventually own the fleets given each autonomous truck costs over RMB 1million. At this point, the operational fleets each have a few vehicles. As it expands, we would probably see new business models like strategic partnerships among players on the supply chain or joint ventures to ultimately transform mining industry.
