China's turned to non-contact services amid the coronavirus outbreak

Drones, robots, cashier-free supermarkets… this is what the future of delivery looks like

By Yu Zhiming Posted: Thursday February 20 2020 12:57PM

Call it robotisation in the name of safeguarding people’s health or a new branding technique to influence customer behaviour. Nevertheless, the term ‘non-contact services’ (无接触服务) has been having its moment since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Non-contact services allow customers to get what they want without interacting directly with service providers. Here, we take a look at some of the non-contact services that have been trending in China since the outbreak.

Meituan’s non-contact food delivery

Meituan has been at the forefront of non-contact delivery. Facing a high demand for food delivery services while addressing concerns from the public over the wellbeing of its delivery drivers, Meituan became China’s first service to offer non-contact delivery in Wuhan on 26 January. The concept was soon adopted by many other service providers and became unstoppably popular nation-wide.

To use non-contact delivery, customers just need to write down the place they want their deliveries dropped off. It can be in front of a community compound or at the front desk of an office building.

Meituan soon upgraded the service by installing lockers in Wuhan hospitals to avoid infection between customers (mostly medical workers) and the delivery person. Later on, the company even sent digital notes (together with physical ones) detailing the health status of each person who had handled the food, from the chef to the delivery person.

JD driverless delivery car

JD has been using a few of its driverless delivery cars to send medical supplies from one of its offices to a Wuhan hospital since 6 February. The freezer-sized cars have attracted quite a lot of media attention. Videos appearing on Weibo show the cars carefully navigating the city's mostly empty roads.

SF Express delivery drone

SF Express debuted its delivery drones last week. A video from Weibo shows a drone carrying urgent medical supplies weighing 3.3kg to Jinyintan Hospital, where some of the city’s most severe coronavirus patients are being hospitalised. According to SF, each of these drones can carry parcels weighing as much as 10kg, and the maximum flight distance is 18km.

Huoshenshan Hospital's cashierless supermarket

\Huoshenshan Hospital stunned the world with how fast its construction was (the fully-equipped, 1,000-bed hospital was built in just ten days). Little do people know the supermarket inside the hospital took only 24 hours to get into full action. The cashierless and contact-free supermarket sells disinfectant, cleaning and hygiene products, packaged foods and groceries. All payments can be made using smartphones, and no physical receipts are given.

Luckin self-service coffee machine

Luckin Coffee has donated self-service coffee machines and vending machines to major Wuhan hospitals and promised to offer free coffee to all medical workers until the epidemic is under control. To order, open the Luckin app, locate a machine, place an order, scan the code and a freshly made coffee will be on its way.

Self-service claypot rice maker

One Guangdong-based company has donated a machine that makes claypot rice on its own. A popular dish in Southern China, claypot rice is made with pre-soaked rice which, after being cooked in a pot, develops a thin layer of crust, which is then topped with chicken, sausage and vegetables. According to its creator, the machine can cook 36 pots every 15 minutes, 24/7. Medical workers welcome it as they're able to enjoy hot meals, but we're guessing restaurants and chefs won’t be too happy.