Driverless delivery vans in China go viral for causing road chaos
-X
Clips of China’s driverless delivery vans struggling through roadworks, broken streets and traffic obstacles have gone viral online, turning the country’s autonomous logistics push into an unexpected meme.
The videos show unmanned vans plowing straight through fresh concrete despite workers trying to stop them, crawling over uneven roads, getting stuck in construction zones, and even continuing to move with a motorcycle wedged beneath a wheel arch. In each case, the vehicles appear unable to recognize or respond to the obstruction.
Shared widely on social media platform X, the footage has been accompanied by jokes that “nothing stops them,” highlighting what viewers see as the vans’ lack of real-world judgment when faced with unpredictable conditions.
The vehicles featured in the clips are part of China’s rapidly expanding autonomous delivery network. Major courier companies such as ZTO Express and J&T Express have deployed thousands of driverless vans over the past two years, using them primarily on fixed routes between logistics hubs and neighborhood drop-off points.
In China, driverless delivery vans have become a total meme, they plow through crumbling roads, fresh concrete, motorcycles, anything.
Nothing stops them. pic.twitter.com/0t8W6lCKIkThese vans typically operate at low speeds and rely on cameras, radar and pre-mapped routes rather than full self-driving systems. While human operators can monitor the vehicles remotely and intervene when needed, the viral clips suggest that some scenarios still lead to errors, delays or complete confusion.
China has actively encouraged autonomous delivery as part of its broader push toward logistics automation, particularly in areas facing labor shortages and soaring demand for last-mile delivery.
So far, the clips circulating online have not been accompanied by official statements from the companies involved, and it remains unclear whether any of the incidents caused damage or required manual recovery.