Two Chinese delivery and logistics companies, China Post and Deppon Express, have announced that in April, they will begin making commercial deliveries using self-driving trucks, with the first trucks being put into daily commercial use in China.

​The trucks will be equipped with autonomous driving technologies developed by FABU Technology, which is an artificial intelligence (AI) company focused on intelligent driving systems.

In Nov. 2018, FABU partnered with China Post and Deppon Express to begin testing Level 4 autonomous driving trucks in China’s Zhejiang Province. During this testing, self-driving trucks equipped with FABU’s autonomous driving technology averaged 40-mile daily round trips along three different routes. One delivery route passed through 50 intersections, 26 of which were controlled by traffic lights.

The trucks operated in a variety of conditions, including during the day and at night, as well as on highways, through tunnels and along residential streets filled with pedestrians, schools and flea markets. The tests were conducted during the winter, which meant that the trucks also had to perform in challenging weather conditions such as rainstorms, snow and fog.

During the testing period, autonomous trucks operated by FABU technology successfully drove over 2,200 miles and delivered over 60,000 parcels, all during China's peak shopping season, which includes Singles' Day, Christmas and Chinese New Year.

“We are very excited that FABU technology is at the heart of the first autonomous delivery trucks in China,” says Xiaofei He, founder and CEO of FABU.

“China Post and Deppon have also been very pleased with the performance of FABU self-driving technology in their trucks and plan on expanding their autonomous delivery services to 100 routes in the near future.”

He notes that China Post and Deppon Express believe self-driving trucks will help them save on operating costs in the long run, especially as there has been an increase in online shopping and a shortage of truck drivers. The companies estimate that it will only take one year to recoup their initial investments in vehicular hardware systems.