(Yicai) Dec. 15 -- The first unmanned transport center in China has officially started operations in Hefei, the capital city of eastern Anhui province, aiming to help users cut logistics costs and achieve profitability through the large-scale adoption of unmanned logistics vehicles.

The center relies on Level-4 self-driving logistics vehicles and customized scenarios and can achieve full-chain automated operations, from route planning to unmanned delivery, Li Jian, chairman of Heizhima Smart Transport, the center’s technology and operation service provider, told Yicai.

As the country’s first transport center focusing on the large-scale commercial application of unmanned urban delivery vehicles, the Hefei center integrates various intelligent service capabilities, including unmanned logistics solutions, high-precision map management, cloud-based real-time dispatching, remote monitoring, data intelligent analysis, and vehicle operation and maintenance.

Unlike previous unmanned transportation capabilities, which are limited to relatively closed spaces, the Hefei center will cover the entire city and reach the needs of end users, providing services in diverse delivery business scenarios, such as express package delivery, university services, and park logistics, Li said.

The operation of the center will raise the scale of unmanned delivery services, and the scale effect will make it possible for the demand side to profit from using unmanned delivery services, Li noted. “The purpose of the center is to promote unmanned logistics’ profitability.”

The Hefei center positions itself as a “transportation service provider,” enabling companies with delivery needs in the city to enjoy unmanned transportation services on demand rather than purchase and maintain expensive unmanned vehicles by themselves, Li explained.

The “transport capacity as a service” model will lower the threshold for enterprises to use cutting-edge technologies, Li pointed out. For clients in industries such as e-commerce, retail, and manufacturing, using the center’s unmanned services will likely reduce their overall logistics costs by about 60 percent.

Hefei has basically achieved large-scale testing and demonstration application of functional unmanned vehicles, an informed source told Yicai. However, even though there is a market demand for unmanned vehicles throughout the city, there are still many problems in application, they added.

To become the first mover, Hefei needs to continuously improve the technology and operation management model of driverless vehicles in actual application scenarios, another industry insider said.

The sales volume of low-speed autonomous driving vehicles in China is expected to exceed 47,000 units, with sales revenue of CNY18.5 billion (USD2.62 billion), by this year, according to the New Strategy Low-Speed Autonomous Driving Industry Research Institute. Their sales volume will likely reach 95,000 units, with sales revenue of over CNY41 billion, by 2030.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione