The Covid-19 pandemic has turned our world upside down. Since last year, the pandemic has induced changes that have both positively and negatively impacted the global economy. We are witnessing how healthcare providers and frontline workers are striving consistently to make the situation better for all of us. Disinfecting spaces are really important to stop the pandemic from spreading. Doing this manually might take a lot of time and it might be dangerous considering the highly infectious nature of this virus. The accelerated adoption of technology in recent years has made the development of robotics and artificial intelligence possible.

The coronavirus has hurt many companies in China and around the world. Neolix, a driverless delivery business based in Beijing, isn't among them -- in fact, it's seen a jump in demand. The startup, which has attracted customers including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Meituan Dianping and JD.Com Inc., has booked orders for more than 200 vehicles in the past two months; before then, it had only produced 125 units since manufacturing began last May, founder Yu Enyuan said in an interview. Amid the virus anxiety that has disrupted businesses and supply chains, China's push into autonomous transport and the future of delivery is getting an unexpected boost. Neolix's small vans help customers reduce physical contact and address labor shortages caused by lingering quarantines and travel restrictions. Neolix's inventories have been depleted during the epidemic as its vehicles have been used to deliver medical supplies in hospitals, including in Wuhan, at the outbreak's epicenter.

Neolix showing its little vans are pretty helpful. When cities are on lockdown and quarantines keep people from going out to do absolutely anything, it quickly makes for a tough situation. Yet, despite the awful consequences of the coronavirus, one Chinese company is showing how technology can make a difference. Neolix, a self-driving delivery vehicle startup in China, has been working overtime to usher more of its autonomous delivery vans onto empty Chinese roads amid quarantines. According to a Bloomberg report on Monday, Chinese companies have booked orders for 200 of the tiny robotic vehicles, including online megaretailers Alibaba and JD.com.

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.

One of China's newest autonomous vehicle makers, Neolix, recently put self-driving microvans into action as it looks to scale up its solution to the country's logistics puzzle made more complex by a surge in online shopping. The Beijing-based startup, barely a year old, has already deployed the vehicles in the capital and other cities, but it faces stiff competition from a crowded field where other players, especially e-commerce groups, are racing to develop similar robovans. "Operating 10,000 units will be an industry milestone and it is crucial [for us] to achieve it," said Yu Enyuan, 45, Neolix's founder and chief executive. Neolix's ambition is to replace the roughly 40 million vehicles providing so-called last-mile logistics in China, a market projected to be 3 trillion yuan ($428 billion). These home deliveries are now handled mainly by two- and three-wheel electric motorbikes, zigzagging through neighborhoods to carry everything from milk tea to mattresses.

DUBAI (Reuters) - China's Neolix has signed a preliminary agreement with Middle East e-commerce company noon to trial autonomous vehicles in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Neolix will build driverless vehicles customised to the region's weather conditions, where temperatures can soar above 50 degrees Celsius in the summer, noon said in a statement on Tuesday. Noon, a joint venture between Saudi Arabia's sovereign Public Investment Fund and Dubai billionaire Mohamed Alabbar, will focus on'last mile delivery' of the vehicles in select areas of Abu Dhabi and Dubai over the next few weeks, the company added. It did not give trial dates for Saudi Arabia. Neolix and noon signed the agreement during the state visit of Emirati crown prince Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan to China.

Domino's could be putting some of its delivery drivers out of a job this year by rolling out a new wave of robot delivery vehicles in Texas. The robot vehicles, made by the well-funded autonomous driving startup, Nuro, are entirely self-driving and can cart their cargo -- in this case Domino's pizza -- via in-unit storage. Once the robot arrives at its destination, customers must meet the vehicle and use a special pin provided to them upon ordering to unlock the hatch and collect their delivery. Domino's will take the next step in autonomous delivery by partnering with Nuro to deliver pizzas via robot cars. Silicon Valley-based startup, Nuro, will partner with Domino's Pizza to deliver in Houston, Texas.

The future of deliveries may be robo-vans. A Chinese startup called Neolix kicked off mass production of its self-driving delivery vehicles Friday -- saying it's the first company globally to do so -- and has lined up giants such as JD.Com Inc. and Huawei Technologies Co. as customers. Neolix expects to deliver a thousand of the vehicles, which resemble tiny vans, within the first year as it broadens out. The implications are potentially huge: Billionaire Jack Ma predicts there will be 1 billion deliveries a day in China within a decade and the commercialization of the technology could provide lessons for autonomous vehicles carrying passengers. Neolix isn't alone in this space as Silicon Valley's Nuro raised almost a billion dollars this year and is starting to deliver groceries in Arizona.

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.