Recently, the unmanned delivery market has heated up again. A group of automotive-grade players with both strength and potential, including DESAYSV and MINIEYE, have entered this hot field; Momenta is also rumored to be entering the unmanned delivery market.
These companies, with different core businesses, will leverage their unique advantages to enter and influence the industry: DESAYSV, as a Tier 1 automotive company, will equip its entire vehicle with automotive-grade capabilities, while MINIEYE will leverage its technology and experience in front-end assisted driving in urban areas to enable unmanned logistics in the same use case.
Looking back on the year, the unmanned delivery market has continued to heat up, with multiple developments, from financing and partnerships to new product and technology releases. This has also accelerated the industry’s scale-up, and companies within the industry have set targets for 10,000 deliveries. Therefore, what are the driving forces behind this surge in activity? Can the entry of gaint companies truly address the current challenges facing the industry and promote larger-scale implementation?
MINIEYE: Scenario Layout for the Advancement from L1 to L4
On September 15, MINIEYE officially launched its unmanned logistics brand, “Xiaozhu Unmanned Vehicle,” in Shenzhen, marking its official entry into the unmanned delivery market, which is another expansion of MINIEYE’s L4 segment, following the launch of its unmanned minibus.
Two Xiaozhu unmanned vehicle models, T5 and T8, were debuted at the event. The T5 optimizes the cargo space by freeing up 5.5 square meters, achieving a maximum payload of 1,000 kg in its class and a range of up to 180 km. It primarily serves niche applications such as express delivery, supermarkets, and fresh food delivery.
The T8, with a volume of 8.5 square meters, is more suited to high-volume transportation needs. It has a maximum payload of 1,700 kg and a range of 240 km. It is widely applicable in urban delivery and industrial logistics, and can also be used in more specialized scenarios such as mining areas and ports.
The urban application of pre-mounted assisted driving naturally overlaps with the use cases of unmanned logistics. As an intelligent driving company that began with pre-mounted mass production solutions, MINIEYE has accumulated a vast amount of data and scenario experience in this business.
The Xiaozhu unmanned vehicle unveiled at the event boasts automotive-grade, stable, durable, and high-quality features. This confidence stems from the fact that its next-generation product will be jointly developed by MINIEYE’s key mass production partners, including Horizon Robotics’ Dual Journey 6M chip, RoboSense’s latest-generation EMX LiDAR products, and NavInfo’s P-Box positioning system.
This reuse of MINIEYE‘s intelligent driving software and hardware ecosystem for pre-mounted passenger vehicles significantly reduces vehicle costs. According to Dr. Liu Guoqing, founder and chairman of MINIEYE, its vehicle BOM cost is approximately 20%-30% lower than the industry average, enabling faster scale-up and penetration at the same price.
In addition to BOM costs, operating costs are also a significant component of unmanned delivery vehicles. In this regard, MINIEYE hopes to adopt a “base” strategy, concentrating resources in a select number of cities and deploying 300-500 vehicles in each city to reduce per-vehicle operating costs through scale. At the press conference, government representatives from Chengdu, Shaanxi, Jiangyin, and other regions signed cooperation agreements with MINIEYE. It is expected that these cities (besides Shenzhen) may be the first to fully promote the initiative.
At the press conference, Dr. Liu Guoqing also announced a goal of deploying 10,000 units next year.
According to MINIEYE’s 2025 Interim Results Announcement, its autonomous minibus business generated revenue exceeding RMB 10 million in the first half of 2025 and has secured over ten projects. It anticipates revenue from autonomous minibuses will exceed RMB 50 million this year.
L4 autonomous driving is expected to become MINIEYE’s next growth driver, following its intelligent driving, cockpit, and V2X businesses.
DESAYSV: The Third Venture, Building a Second Growth Curve
On September 2, DESAYSV officially launched its new low-speed autonomous vehicle brand, “Chuanxing Zhiyuan,” along with two L4 low-speed autonomous vehicles: the “Chuanxing Zhiyuan S6 Flying Wing” and “Chuanxing Zhiyuan S6 Side Sliding Door,” marking DESAYSV’s official entry into the low-speed autonomous vehicle market.
The two models feature efficient loading and unloading. The former utilizes a top-loading flying wing opening structure and an intelligent loading and unloading assistance system, reducing loading and unloading time by over 30%, making it particularly suitable for high-frequency bulk delivery scenarios such as express delivery and supermarkets. The latter emphasizes flexible pickup, with side doors opening up to 120 degrees and adjustable cargo compartment partitions, making it more suitable for segments such as pharmaceuticals and fresh produce where convenient pickup is crucial.
As a leading company with deep roots in the automotive electronics industry, encompassing cockpits, intelligent driving, domain controllers, and sensors, DESAYSV has established strong software and hardware integration capabilities and automotive-grade production capabilities. DESAYSV’s entry into the market has significantly advanced unmanned delivery vehicles to the automotive-grade definition. From the vehicle to the components, the “Chuanxing Zhiyuan” unmanned vehicle fully complies with national automotive standards, local unmanned vehicle group standards, and related manufacturing systems.
Among the seven core highlights of the S6 series, six innovative technologies are industry firsts: full vehicle-grade development from the entire vehicle to its components, an intelligent axial control system, an increase in the climbing height of autonomous vehicles to 25%, the industry’s first 6-year, 300,000-kilometer battery standard for autonomous vehicles, a full vehicle-grade intelligent driving suite, and an intelligent sensing surface for the entire vehicle.
In fact, as early as April of this year, DESAYSV released its 2030 strategic plan, with the autonomous vehicle business being a key pillar of its 2030 strategy.
Looking back on DESAYSV’s nearly 40-year history, from its initial joint venture status, breaking the monopoly on in-car audio and air-conditioning control technology, to its transformation from a traditional parts supplier, developing three businesses: intelligent cockpit, intelligent driving, and intelligent connectivity, becoming a leading company in the automotive supply chain, and now becoming a “comprehensive enabler in the AI era.” After three transformations, it has now anchored the unmanned delivery sector, a market with a market value of tens of millions.
DESAYSV is focusing on building a second growth trajectory.
The deeper logic behind the convergence of giant companies
In fact, these two companies are not the only ones entering the unmanned delivery market. Since the beginning of this year, industry entrants include startups like JiWei.ai, which is focused on unmanned delivery, as well as leading companies like WeRide, which are deeply exploring application scenarios and refining their product portfolio.
In March of this year, JiWei.ai publicly announced the “mass production of the first end-to-end large-scale model in the unmanned logistics industry,” launching its first robot product, the “Smart Pony.”
In February of this year, WeRide unveiled its next-generation unmanned logistics vehicle, Robovan W5, which is a Level 4 unmanned logistics vehicle designed specifically for urban open roads, with a cargo volume of 5.5m³, a maximum payload of 1,000kg, and a range of 220km.
In the smart freight sector, WeRide launched its first unmanned freight vehicle, WeRide Robovan, as early as 2023, which is a pure electric Level 4 unmanned truck developed in collaboration with JMC and based on the FORDBEYOND light bus model.
Compared to its predecessor, a late-model truck modified for urban, medium- and long-distance freight delivery, the new-generation, pre-mounted unmanned logistics vehicle, Robovan W5, clearly represents not only a technological upgrade but also aims to further develop unmanned logistics scenarios and improve operational efficiency.
In addition, news broke in July of this year that Momenta was assembling a team to enter the unmanned delivery vehicle market. Citing an insider, the report suggested that this move might reflect Momenta’s deep anxiety ahead of its IPO, expecting to leverage its accumulated software and algorithm expertise to rapidly transform its unmanned delivery business.
However, this news has not yet been confirmed. Momenta has previously been labeled as possessing the “strongest intelligent driving algorithm.” If it truly enters the unmanned delivery market, its combined strengths in algorithms, chips, and data can reduce the overall lifecycle cost of its vehicles. Notably, Momenta has already accumulated extensive experience in perception, prediction, and decision-making algorithms. If these capabilities can be transferred to low-speed unmanned delivery scenarios, they are expected to achieve rapid implementation and scalability. The influx of these giant companies into the unmanned delivery market is both the inevitable result of technological evolution and industry logic, and a reflection of the combined efforts of market and policy.
In recent years, this sector has attracted significant capital investment. Companies such as ZELOS, NEOLIX, and Rino.ai have all secured significant funding rounds this year. At the same time, the industry is rapidly moving from “technical testing” to “large-scale commercialization.” 2025 is considered the “first year of 10,000 unit deliveries,” signifying that commercialization has entered a stage of replicability and scalability.
Despite the current boom, the industry still needs to exercise due diligence. Before large-scale commercialization, we still have many hurdles to overcome. From a technical perspective, the long-tail challenges of current unmanned delivery scenarios include perception and decision-making capabilities in complex and changing environments, as well as reliability in adverse weather conditions (such as rain and snow). From a legal and regulatory perspective, regulations and standards need to be improved. The relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards for unmanned delivery are not yet fully unified, and rules such as accident liability need further clarification. Furthermore, many companies are still operating in a strategically loss-making phase and need to find sustainable profit models. The addition of this wave of fresh blood may help us find a breakthrough in these problems.
Note:
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