Chinese driverless delivery van startup sees a surge in demand amid coronavirus

While the coronavirus is hurting many companies in china, on in particular is thriving because of the disease. Neolix, a driverless delivery service, has experienced a spike in demand as it helps reduce physical contact and fills in at a time of labor shortages – many workers in the country have been quarantined. The autonomous vans are being used to deliver medical supplies, disinfect streets and delivery food to people who are in the heart of the outbreak. The startup has booked orders for more than 200 vehicles in the past two months and before that, it had only produced 125 units since last May, founder Yu Enyuan said in an interview with Bloomberg. The tiny vans, which are essentially four-wheeled robots outfitted with trunks for storage, are capable of navigating their environment without any human pilot.