The first unmanned distribution vehicles independently developed by Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com will began trial operation this October, the company announced on Sept. 1. The statement also said that such vehicles are expected to be in large-scale commercial use in the near future.

At 1 meter long, 0.8 meters wide and 0.6 meters high, the unmanned distribution vehicles are capable of independently planning routes, avoiding congested roads and identifying traffic lights.

It notifies buyers using APP or text message.

Some netizens commented that the devices will threaten the jobs of delivery people.

Discussing the original intent of the project, Xiao Jun, head of JD.com's intelligent logistics research, explained that Chinese logistics systems in urban areas are entirely dependent on manpower, requiring a large number of employees to make deliveries spanning small distances. According to Xiao, this results in inefficiency.

Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba, another e-commerce giant in China, dismissed JD.com's test of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in June, laughingly stating that the company might as well be attempting to deliver packages to Mars.

Nevertheless, as the first group working toward UAV delivery in China, JD.com is confident that such measures can not only resolve distribution issues in rural areas, but can also reduce operation costs, according to analysts.