Meituan joins hands with LiDAR supplier Hesai for autonomous food delivery

Beijing (Gasgoo)- China’s leading LiDAR supplier, Hesai Technology, has reached strategic cooperation with China’s food delivery giant, Meituan, for autonomous delivery development in the next four years.

Signing ceremony; photo credit: Hesai Technology

The cooperation agreement specifies that Hesai will provide multiple LiDAR products covering the long, medium, and short distance ranges for Meituan’s autonomous delivery business, accelerating its scale application.

Photo credit: Meituan

According to public records, Meituan’s daily averaged delivery order number amounted to 43.6 million, showing great potential for the autonomous delivery business in the daily life service market.

As of now, Meituan’s delivery service covers 2,800 cities in China, including mountain areas and plateaus. Its service operates all day and all year, under various weathers, indoors and outdoors, posing an enormous challenge for the autonomous vehicles’ reliability.

Actually, Meituan has been developing its driverless delivery vehicle project as early as 2016. By September 2021, the company is running a fleet of hundred vehicles, accumulating over 100,000 orders via open roads.

Meituan’s latest generation of its driverless delivery vehicle, the Modai 20 (meaning magic pocket in English), is powered by the company’s self-developed advanced autonomous driving system, with Hesai’s Pandar and XT series LiDAR.

With the 360° perception solution, the Modai 20 has started tests on open roads and campuses.