At some point, I’m sure that most of you have seen one of those cute little sidewalk robots roaming around your city, probably on their way to deliver someone’s smash burger and fries.
Still, they remain a rare feature in most cities. Here in Toronto, city council unfortunately voted to ban them back in 2021.
But things are a little different over in China, where autonomous delivery vehicles are starting to operate at real scale across both the last-mile and mid-mile segments.
Meituan reported that it had completed over 5.5 million outdoor delivery orders by the end of 2025, while Neolix recently surpassed 30,000 active vehicles with plans for significant growth. The company just announced a new $400 million raise.
What’s unique about the Chinese landscape is that, in addition to cute little sidewalk robots, we’re also talking about high-capacity cargo vehicles.
And to accommodate these vehicles, cities like Shenzhen and Beijing have created regulatory sandboxes where they are allowed to mix with public traffic.
Interestingly enough, these delivery vehicles also seem to be creating a nighttime economy, where they roam around cities unfettered by traffic and human sleep requirements.
Now, I don’t have firsthand experience with any of these Chinese delivery vehicles, but I do think the right approach is to create sandboxes and figure things out rather than outright ban them.