Fast Track to the Future: Last-mile drone courier now on trial in Chinese cities

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A drone company in southern China's Guangdong province has partnered with German express delivery giant DHL to launch last-mile drone delivery services in urban areas. Let's find out more from CGTN's Ge Yunfei.

Liang Junjie is a young courier whose typical workday starts with sorting out packages for delivery.

But unlike before, he no longer has to sit in traffic jams on the way to his clients. Now, he waits for a drone to bring the packages directly to him.

LIANG JUNJIE, COURIER DHL-SINOTRANS "It's very convenient. It used to take me 40 minutes to drive from our delivery center to the client's office. But now, the drone only takes eight minutes to finish a 10-kilometer trip to collect a package."

And senders only need to bring an ID card, put a package of up to five kilograms into the cabinet, and press a button.

Then, the drone will automatically pick up the package and bring it to the delivery company.

DERRICK XIONG, CO-FOUNDER EHANG TECHNOLOGY "We make this whole process autonomous and automatic. We have this total solution that could eliminate all the labor costs. And it eliminates all human interference."

The service was launched in May by China's EHang Technology and German delivery giant DHL.

A smart drone with eight propellers on four arms, and an intelligent cabinet with automated machinery. Such a combination makes this one-stop delivery service different from previous solutions in the market.

JACK O'NEILL, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT NETWORK OPERATIONS, DHL EXPRESS CHINA "Traditionally, market players have done it in rural areas. I think it will help us develop the logistics industry and transform it into a different model in the future."

Having to deal with rising salaries of couriers, the service could save costs of up to 80 percent per delivery.

JACK O'NEILL, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT NETWORK OPERATIONS, DHL EXPRESS CHINA "Labor cost has always been a heavy burden for the delivery company. I do believe these types of solutions with the fully automated drones in the intelligent cabinet will allow utilizing less labor going forward."

This drone delivery service has been operating daily in Dongguan, a manufacturing city in Southern China.

Yet, in order to implement this cutting-edge solution across the country, or even globally, DHL says the biggest challenge is to get government approvals worldwide.

DERRICK XIONG, CO-FOUNDER EHANG TECHNOLOGY "You really need to be strong in both hardware and software. You show the regulators that, okay, you are capable of, you know, operating a drone delivery service or operation like this."

GE YUNFEI DONGGUAN "This new last-mile drone delivery service offers a glimpse of the future. One day, instead of a delivery person knocking on our doors, we could be getting our packages and takeaways from a drone. And that day may come sooner than expected. Ge Yunfei, CGTN, Dongguan."