Chinese e-commerce giant has started testing delivery drones in three major cities, seeking to overcome logistics barriers in the country and creating competition to Amazon.
AFP news agency said the current tests were confined to just three days and a few areas of three Chinese cities: Beijing, commercial hub Shanghai and Guangzhou in the South.
The agency said deliveries only applied to one brand of ginger tea from one vendor, with a limit of 450 deliveries in total.
“This is a one-off campaign where ginger tea packets ordered on Taobao can be delivered to designated cities or regions within an hour,” Alibaba said in an e-mailed note. “We’re unsure about future possibilities yet, but this is our first drone delivery service campaign.”
Alibaba is not the first Chinese company to try drone delivery, says Forbes. In 2013 SF
express, which is a partner in Alibaba’s logistic network, tested a model that can fly a
maximum altitude of 100 meters in the city of Dongguan that year.
It started in December 2013 to use the drones in a trial program to send goods to remote areas, according to local media reports. The firm told Beijing News that it would be in touch with regulators before launching its drone-delivery services nationwide.
