Alibaba Auto Vending Machine starts

Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On December 13, Alibaba, a Chinese e-commerce giant, held a press conference to start the project of Auto Vending Machine in Shanghai and Nanjing. The first phase of the project will begin with a Super Test-Drive Center, which will be open to all customers.

Auto vending machine is a sort of self-service terminal, just like the vending machine you can buy cola from. You can scan a car on the street with the app Tianmao, developed by Alibaba, or find a car directly on the app, and then you can make an appointment on the app for your test-drive. What you need to do is just fill in basic information and upload a selfie. Even the test-drive doesn’t need a deposit if you are a Super Member of Alibaba. Then you can head to the Auto Vending Machine and pick up the car you have booked via facial recognition. You can use the car for a three-day trial run. After test-drive, you can buy cars directly from the app.

The first Auto Vending Machine shop in Shanghai was located nearly Shanghai Expo Center, with an area of 200 square meters. The second will be open in January 2018 in Hongkou District of Shanghai. The company said that in 2018, ten auto vending machine shops will be deployed in many cities in our country to create new-gen vehicle sale ecology and promote the upgrading of auto industry.

There will be more models under different brands in the vending machine than in the traditional dealerships. According to the company, up to now, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Porsche have expressed their interest in joining the team to sell cars via vending machine.