(Yicai Global) June 11 -- Alibaba Group Holding is branching out into self-driving trucks for use in logistics deliveries on the open road, the chief technology officer of the Chinese e-commerce giant said.

Alibaba’s research institute, the Damo Academy, and its logistics arm Cainiao Smart Logistics Network have started to look into developing an unmanned logistics truck, Cheng Li, who is also CTO of Cainiao, said at the 2021 Global Smart Logistics Summit yesterday.

Autonomous driving technology is becoming a core technology in the digital age, Cheng said. Unmanned logistics can be commercialized and made practical, becoming an important tool of digital logistics.

The Hangzhou-based firm already entered the field last year with the debut of its logistics robot Xiaomanlv for better last-mile delivery. The self-driving delivery van, which links artificial intelligence with autonomous driving, can deliver as many as 500 packages a day to one designated destination such as an office building or a school. It can carry 50 parcels at a time and cover 100 kilometers on a single charge regardless of the weather or GPS connection.

Cainiao plans to put 1,000 Xiaomanlv robovans into operation in campuses and communities in the coming year, in the largest real-world deployment of such vehicles so far, he added. The robovan is already operating in 15 colleges nationwide, serving 300,000 teachers and students. Another 20 universities, including Fudan University, Nankai University and Shanghai Jiaotong University, are keen to use Xiaomanlv on their campuses, he added.

Editor: Kim Taylor