JD.com is increasing AI and robotics throughout its logistics community below a brand new Bodily AI Acceleration Plan, whereas reiterating a five-year goal to obtain 3 million robots, 1 million autonomous automobiles, and 100,000 supply drones.
The corporate launched the plan at JDDiscovery 2026 in Beijing. JD Logistics additionally unveiled its industrial Wolf Robotic sequence, designed for duties throughout warehousing, sorting, transport, and supply.
Specialised methods embody gear designed to function in temperatures as little as minus 20 levels Celsius, automated pharmacy dispatch methods, autonomous supply automobiles, and drones.
The five-year procurement plan builds on automation that JD Logistics already has in operation. As of June 30, its LangzuTech Items-to-Individual automated warehousing system had been deployed in additional than 30 warehouses throughout China, with deployments additionally launched within the UK and Germany.
JD Logistics’ broader warehouse community included greater than 1,800 self-operated warehouses and greater than 2,000 third-party cloud warehouses on its Open Warehouse Platform as of June 30. The community lined greater than 36 million sq. metres in mixture.
The corporate additionally had 1000’s of unmanned automobiles in common operation throughout greater than 20 Chinese language provinces by the tip of June. Greater than 100 home drone routes have been working throughout purposes together with parcel and meals supply, emergency drugs transport, and catastrophe reduction.
From AI choices to bodily execution
JD Logistics is connecting its bodily gear with Meta Mind, an AI system used throughout warehousing, transportation, and supply. JD stated Meta Mind 3.0 can calculate optimum routes for a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of parcels in seconds, in contrast with minutes beforehand.
Meta Mind additionally powers JD Logistics’ LangzuTech Packer robotic arm, which mixes the mannequin with multimodal sensor knowledge to trace, grasp, and place parcels with completely different shapes.
JD Logistics stated in a first-quarter regulatory submitting that the Packer makes use of parallel reinforcement studying in simulated environments to optimise parcel-placement sequences and loading layouts. The corporate stated the system is designed to enhance sorting effectivity and the usage of accessible service area.
JD upgraded the robotic arm’s force-control know-how in the course of the second quarter to help extra exact cage-loading operations. By June, the Packer was working across the clock at a number of JD Logistics parks, in accordance with the corporate’s interim report.
JD can be including computing capability to help AI growth. JD Cloud plans to work with Chinese language chipmaker Moore Threads on a cluster containing 100,000 GPUs for large-model coaching, inference, and embodied-AI workloads.
The 2 firms have beforehand labored on a ten,000-GPU cluster, in accordance with Knowledge Heart Dynamics. Particulars of which Moore Threads GPU fashions will likely be used within the deliberate 100,000-GPU system haven’t been disclosed.
JD Cloud additionally plans to gather greater than 10 million hours of video displaying real-world human actions over the following two years for embodied-AI coaching.
Past warehouse operations, JD Logistics has expanded its autonomous automobile community into night-time supply. Its interim report stated the corporate had launched night-time autonomous routes in Shenzhen, permitting automobiles to function across the clock.
JD can be utilizing drones in rural logistics. In June, JD Logistics launched a drone supply community in Zizhong, Sichuan province, protecting 78 administrative villages, and stated deliveries to some mountain villages may very well be accomplished in as little as seven minutes.
Scaling automation throughout JD’s logistics community
JD didn’t disclose the whole anticipated price of the five-year procurement programme at JDDiscovery or present a network-wide return-on-investment goal.
JD Logistics spent RMB2.3 billion on analysis and growth in the course of the first half of 2026, up 23.7% from RMB1.9 billion a yr earlier. The corporate attributed the rise to continued funding in know-how and innovation however didn’t present a breakdown displaying how a lot was spent particularly on AI or robotics.
Depreciation of property and gear and amortisation of different intangible property rose 18.7% to RMB2.6 billion in the course of the first half of 2026, from RMB2.2 billion a yr earlier. JD Logistics attributed the rise primarily to further logistics gear and automobiles.
Purchases of property and gear and funding properties totalled RMB3.09 billion over the identical six-month interval, in contrast with RMB2.70 billion a yr earlier. These figures cowl the broader logistics enterprise and are usually not disclosed as spending particularly related to the brand new bodily AI programme.
JD’s automation plans additionally come as China’s main ecommerce platforms develop fulfilment infrastructure. Reuters reported on September 3 that competitors between JD.com, Alibaba, and Meituan had moved from heavy spending on supply subsidies in direction of logistics infrastructure, broader provide, and order-level economics.
Alibaba and JD have been opening darkish shops and fast-fulfilment “lightning warehouses” in densely populated areas to help deliveries inside an hour, whereas Meituan has been constructing supermarkets to develop its grocery operations. Ministry of Commerce analysis cited by Reuters estimates China’s instant-retail market will attain RMB1.2 trillion, or about $178 billion, by the tip of 2026.
JD and firms inside its ecosystem make use of round 700,000 supply and logistics personnel, in accordance with the South China Morning Submit.
JD founder Richard Liu stated earlier this yr that robots would ultimately take over parcel-delivery work now carried out by human couriers. The Monetary Instances reported in June that JD had signed agreements with round 120 academic establishments to retrain staff for roles together with robotic restore and upkeep.
JD stated JD Logistics at present operates eight robotic restore centres in China and plans to develop its robotics after-sales capabilities over the following 5 years. The corporate expects the enlargement to help greater than 100,000 robotics service engineer jobs.
(Photograph by JD.com)
See additionally: Arm launches Whole Design for Bodily AI and robotics framework
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