Chinese startup begins mass-producing self-driving delivery vans in world's first

A startup in China will be the first company in the world to begin mass-producing self-driving delivery vehicles for some of the country's biggest commerce giants. According to a report from Bloomberg, the company Neolix has begun production on 1,000 level four autonomous vehicles that it plans to roll out in China throughout the next year. The tiny vans, which are essentially four-wheeled robots outfitted with trunks for storage, are capable of navigating their environment without any human pilot and have already garnered interest from two of China's biggest retailers: Huawei and JD.com. Neolix's robotic courier will cost around $30,000 each and could usher in a new era for e-commerce in China where companies like Alibaba have exploded in scope. In 2019 alone, Alibaba has generated about $152 billion.