2017 Alibaba established Damo Academy to promote cutting-edge research without short-term profit pressure. Today, one of the Academy’s 16 autonomous driving labs made a huge development.
Damo’s autonomous vehicle lab will join Alibaba’s global logistics network, Cainiao, and leave the basic research institute. State-affiliated China Securities Journal broke the story. Alibaba told TechCrunch about the restructuring.
Alibaba now has more pressure to commercialize its capital-intensive autonomous driving initiative. Logistics is a smart place to start because a self-driving delivery van transports commodities rather than people, and its routes are easier in last-mile environments than downtown roads.
Damo’s flagship Donovan, Little Donkey, has delivered e-commerce, restaurant, and supermarket orders to Cainiao for six years. The company said the Nuro-like self-driving vehicle had over 10 million deliveries by June 2022.
Alibaba projected Little Donkey to deliver one million daily shipments in three years in 2021. Little Donkeys may carry many of Cainiao’s shipments if the squad is on pace. In 2022, the logistics giant’s top daily delivery exceeded 18 million on Double 11, China’s Black Friday-like shopping event.
Following Alibaba’s export e-commerce, Cainiao has expanded globally. Opening logistics operations in Brazil, Mexico, and Chile has helped it expand outside China. As a result, little Donkeys on Latin American sidewalks are likely.