Due to the coronavirus or Covid-19 outbreak, there have been many innovations emerging to help the battle against the deadly virus. The virus-detecting app created in South Kore works just like Google Maps and shows places to avoid when driving around. There has been a small Chinese startup company whose inventions, like the driverless delivery vans, could be quite useful in these times of panic! Alibaba has seen the potential and is working on making their own version in secret!
Driverless Delivery Van
These vans could be used for greater purposes even though now it is fully utilized. With the help of bigger investors or even the Chinese government themselves, supplies could be delivered around without risking the spread of the infection! There have been quite a number of deliveries so far, but if Alibaba could get this technology, they would be in direct competition with the startup company but would also be able to cater to the need of the masses!
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The Chinese startup is gaining popularity because of its usefulness in a time of peril
The demand for this Chinese startup's vans started to skyrocket ever since the outbreak of the coronavirus or Covid-19 as panic and mayhem are filling the streets, and people are starting to become afraid of even leaving the house. These vans make the jobs of delivery people easier and safer as well as more efficient and easier to handle since you would not have to factor in that much of a risk of human infection as the virus will not be able to transfer from one host to another anymore.
The company is having a hard time fulfilling orders
The vans are apparently assembled by a Beijing-based company called Neolix, which has already proven to be useful to bring in medical supplies, food, and even transporting people to and from work, especially within the coronavirus or Covid-19 hit areas of China. This has been absolutely useful to minimize the risk of infection with every travel. The firm had already taken about 200 orders for their vehicles in the last two months when before that, it had only been able to produce 125 units since it launched last May! This growth is exponentially big compared to how the company used to function, but the pressure is on as the demand skyrockets.
Has Alibaba come to save the day?
The problem this company is facing is quite similar to any startup company's problem, capital! China's richest person and owner of Alibaba, Jack Ma, has already predicted that there would be about 1 billion deliveries a day within China alone during the next decade, this would make Neolix's technology very useful to fulfill the deliveries as the riskiest part of selling goods can now be avoided.
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Alibaba, as well as JD.Com, have already invested billions in innovating and mass-produce the driverless delivery technology themselves, which include carts, drowns, and other self-driving vehicles. It seems like the billionaires are taking advantage of the shift in the environment due to the coronavirus or Covid-19.
