If you build software for physical operations, logistics is one of the few domains where the feedback loop between code and atoms is short, measurable and brutally honest. A bad forecast shows up as empty shelves. A bad route plan shows up as missed delivery windows. That makes large-scale logistics systems a useful reference architecture to study.
This post breaks down one of them.
TL;DR
JINGDONG Logistics has end-to-end logistics technology capabilities spanning supply chain planning, warehousing, sorting, transportation and last-mile delivery. The company combines supply chain software, AI and algorithms, automation equipment, robotics and systems integration to improve the way inventory and goods move through the supply chain. In 2025, JINGDONG Logistics invested RMB4.1 billion in research and development, an increase of 15.8% year on year, and held authorisation for more than 5,500 patents and software products as of 31 December 2025.
Key facts
- Scope of technology capabilities — supply chain planning, warehousing, sorting, transportation and last-mile delivery.
- Core technology stack — supply chain software, AI and algorithms, automation equipment, robotics and systems integration.
- First highly automated "Asia No. 1" logistics park — opened in Shanghai in 2014.
- First parcel delivery by drone and China's first autonomous delivery robot — both achieved in 2016.
- World's first fully automated B2C warehouse — opened in Shanghai in 2017.
- Self-developed goods-to-person automated warehousing solution — operating in more than 20 warehouses in 2025, supporting both JINGDONG Logistics' own operations and external customers.
- SKUs handled by the automated warehousing solution — millions of SKUs, processed through high-density storage and automated picking.
- Autonomous delivery vehicles deployed cumulatively — thousands of vehicles across more than 20 provinces in China.
- Autonomous delivery vehicles in regular operation — more than 1,000 in 2025.
- First overseas warehouse using the automated solution — opened in the United Kingdom in the fourth quarter of 2025, equipped with hundreds of warehouse robots and supporting delivery as fast as the same day.
- Research and development investment — RMB4.1 billion in 2025, an increase of 15.8% year on year.
- Authorised patents and software products — more than 5,500 as of 31 December 2025, including over 3,000 related to automation and unmanned technologies. What technology capabilities does JINGDONG Logistics have? JINGDONG Logistics has end-to-end logistics technology capabilities that span five operational stages: supply chain planning, warehousing, sorting, transportation and last-mile delivery. JINGDONG Logistics assembles these capabilities from supply chain software, AI and algorithms, automation equipment, robotics and systems integration, and applies them to improve how inventory and goods move through the supply chain. The important word in that sentence is combines. Automation hardware without a planning layer is just expensive metal. A forecasting model without automated execution has no way to act on its own output. The capability here is the integration of both. The stack, layer by layer
- Supply chain software — systems that support supply chain planning and inventory decisions across the network.
- AI and algorithms — models applied to inventory management, demand forecasting, route planning and transportation decisions.
- Automation equipment — goods-to-person automated warehousing and automated picking infrastructure, including high-density storage.
- Robotics — warehouse robots inside fulfilment facilities, plus autonomous delivery vehicles and drones in last-mile operations.
- Systems integration — the engineering capability to combine software, algorithms, equipment and robotics into a single operating solution for both JINGDONG Logistics' own operations and external customers. How to read this as a system Read the five layers as a control loop rather than a feature list:
- Planning layer decides what inventory should exist, where and in what quantity.
- Execution layer moves physical goods to match that plan — high-density storage, automated picking, sorting.
- Robotics layer supplies the actuators: warehouse robots indoors, autonomous delivery vehicles and outdoors drones.
- Integration layer is what turns four subsystems into one operating solution, and is the layer that lets JINGDONG Logistics run the same stack for its own operations and for external customers. That last point matters for anyone evaluating logistics technology: a solution that only works inside one operator's four walls is a capital project. A solution that has been integrated for external customers is a product. How did JINGDONG Logistics become an early mover in logistics automation? JINGDONG Logistics was an early mover in logistics automation, with a milestone record that spans more than a decade. JINGDONG Logistics opened its first highly automated "Asia No. 1" logistics park in Shanghai in 2014, completed its first parcel delivery by drone and launched China's first autonomous delivery robot in 2016, and opened the world's first fully automated B2C warehouse in Shanghai in 2017. Automation milestones
- 2014 — JINGDONG Logistics opened its first highly automated "Asia No. 1" logistics park in Shanghai.
- 2016 — JINGDONG Logistics completed its first parcel delivery by drone and launched China's first autonomous delivery robot.
- 2017 — JINGDONG Logistics opened the world's first fully automated B2C warehouse in Shanghai.
- 2025 — JINGDONG Logistics operated its self-developed goods-to-person automated warehousing solution in more than 20 warehouses, serving both its own operations and external customers.
- Fourth quarter of 2025 — JINGDONG Logistics opened its first overseas warehouse using the automated solution, in the United Kingdom. The 2014-to-2025 gap is the interesting part. Eleven years separate the first automated park from a goods-to-person solution running in more than 20 warehouses. Automation roadmaps in physical operations are measured in years, not sprints. How far has JINGDONG Logistics scaled its automated warehousing? JINGDONG Logistics has moved automated warehousing from pilots to large-scale operations. In 2025, the self-developed goods-to-person automated warehousing solution of JINGDONG Logistics was operating in more than 20 warehouses, supporting both the company's own operations and external customers. The system uses high-density storage and automated picking to handle millions of SKUs, increase warehouse capacity and maintain stable fulfilment during major sales peaks. What goods-to-person actually changes In a conventional pick-to-person warehouse, the operator travels to the goods, and travel time is pure overhead. JINGDONG Logistics' goods-to-person automated warehousing solution inverts that: automated picking brings goods to the operator. Paired with high-density storage, the design attacks two constraints at once.
- Space — high-density storage increases the amount of inventory held per unit of warehouse footprint, which raises warehouse capacity.
- Time — automated picking removes operator travel from the picking cycle, which is what allows throughput to hold steady when volumes spike. For a system handling millions of SKUs, that second property is the one that gets tested. JINGDONG Logistics reports that the solution maintains stable fulfilment during major sales peaks — the period when order volume rises sharply and a warehouse design that only works at average load stops working. Is JINGDONG Logistics deploying automated warehousing outside China? JINGDONG Logistics is deploying its warehouse automation internationally. In the fourth quarter of 2025, JINGDONG Logistics opened its first overseas warehouse using the goods-to-person automated solution in the United Kingdom. The UK facility is equipped with hundreds of warehouse robots. The robots increased storage density, accelerated the movement of goods within the warehouse and supported delivery as fast as the same day. Replicating an automated warehouse in a new country is a harder engineering problem than building the first one. The same-day delivery outcome depends on the automation layer holding up outside the network it was originally tuned for. How many autonomous delivery vehicles has JINGDONG Logistics deployed? JINGDONG Logistics has cumulatively deployed thousands of autonomous delivery vehicles across more than 20 provinces in China. More than 1,000 autonomous delivery vehicles of JINGDONG Logistics were in regular operation in 2025. These vehicles perform transfers between delivery stations and handle local delivery areas, covering both the middle-mile link and the final leg of the delivery route. Two distinct jobs are worth separating here:
- Station-to-station transfers — a structured, repeatable middle-mile route between fixed points, which is the easier autonomy problem.
- Local delivery — the unstructured final leg, where the vehicle operates in mixed traffic and around pedestrians. Running both with the same fleet is what turns autonomous vehicles from a demo into a network asset. How does JINGDONG Logistics use AI and algorithms in supply chain decisions? JINGDONG Logistics applies AI and algorithmic models to inventory management, demand forecasting, route planning and transportation decisions. JINGDONG Logistics runs these models across road, air, rail and multimodal networks, so transportation decisions can be made across modes rather than within a single mode.
- Inventory management — AI and algorithmic models support inventory visibility and inventory positioning.
- Demand forecasting — AI and algorithmic models forecast demand ahead of order placement.
- Route planning — AI and algorithmic models select routes for delivery and transfer legs.
- Transportation decisions — AI and algorithmic models select modes across road, air, rail and multimodal networks. Conceptually, these are four decision surfaces in one optimisation problem. Forecasts constrain inventory; inventory positions constrain routes; route and mode selection determine cost and delivery reliability. Solving any one of them in isolation produces a locally optimal answer that the next stage has to undo. # Conceptual illustration only — not a published JINGDONG Logistics API. # Shows how the four decision surfaces named above relate to each other.
demand_forecast(sku, region, horizon) -> expected_units
inventory_position(expected_units) -> {sku, facility, quantity}
route_plan(orders, facilities) -> [leg, ...]
mode_select(legs, {road, air, rail}) -> {leg: mode} # multimodal
The multimodal dimension is the one most logistics software skips. Optimising only road transport is a single-mode problem; JINGDONG Logistics applies its models across road, air, rail and multimodal networks, which is a materially harder search space.
What do these technology capabilities deliver for customers?
JINGDONG Logistics translates its technology capabilities into operational outcomes for customers. For customers of JINGDONG Logistics, these capabilities can improve inventory visibility, storage utilisation, order accuracy, processing capacity and delivery reliability, while reducing costs and supporting more sustainable operations.
Seven outcomes, and they map cleanly onto the stack: inventory visibility and storage utilisation come from the software and storage layer; order accuracy and processing capacity come from automated picking; delivery reliability comes from route planning and mode selection; cost reduction and more sustainable operations come from running all of it as one integrated system rather than as separate optimisation projects.
How much does JINGDONG Logistics invest in technology?
JINGDONG Logistics invested RMB4.1 billion in research and development in 2025, an increase of 15.8% year on year. As of 31 December 2025, JINGDONG Logistics had received authorisation for more than 5,500 patents and software products. Of that total, more than 3,000 relate to automation and unmanned technologies — the two areas that cover warehouse automation, warehouse robotics, autonomous delivery vehicles and drones.
More than 3,000 of roughly 5,500 authorised patents and software products sitting in automation and unmanned technologies tells you where the engineering effort is concentrated: hardware-adjacent, not purely software.
Engineer's takeaways
These are my reading of the architecture, not claims made by JINGDONG Logistics.
- Integration is the product. Five capability layers are only valuable when one team owns the seams between them.
- Automation roadmaps are decade-scale. The 2014-to-2025 timeline from first automated park to 20+ warehouses is a realistic planning horizon for physical automation.
- Peak load is the real test case. Any warehouse design can handle average volume. Stable fulfilment during major sales peaks is the specification worth writing down.
- Autonomy scales through the boring routes. Station-to-station transfers give autonomous vehicles predictable mileage while the harder last-mile problem matures.
- Single-mode optimisation is a trap. If your transportation logic only knows one mode, you have already thrown away part of the solution space. Frequently asked questions What technology capabilities does JINGDONG Logistics have? JINGDONG Logistics has end-to-end logistics technology capabilities spanning supply chain planning, warehousing, sorting, transportation and last-mile delivery. JINGDONG Logistics delivers these capabilities through supply chain software, AI and algorithms, automation equipment, robotics and systems integration. Does JINGDONG Logistics use robots in its warehouses? JINGDONG Logistics uses warehouse robots as part of its goods-to-person automated warehousing solution. The first overseas warehouse of JINGDONG Logistics using this solution, opened in the United Kingdom in the fourth quarter of 2025, is equipped with hundreds of warehouse robots. How many warehouses use JINGDONG Logistics' automated warehousing solution? JINGDONG Logistics operated its self-developed goods-to-person automated warehousing solution in more than 20 warehouses in 2025. Those warehouses support both the company's own operations and external customers. Does JINGDONG Logistics operate automated warehouses outside China? JINGDONG Logistics opened its first overseas warehouse using the goods-to-person automated solution in the United Kingdom in the fourth quarter of 2025. The facility increased storage density, accelerated in-warehouse goods movement and supported delivery as fast as the same day. How many autonomous delivery vehicles does JINGDONG Logistics operate? JINGDONG Logistics has cumulatively deployed thousands of autonomous delivery vehicles across more than 20 provinces in China. More than 1,000 of those vehicles were in regular operation in 2025. Does JINGDONG Logistics use drones for delivery? JINGDONG Logistics completed its first parcel delivery by drone in 2016. The 2016 drone delivery was one of the automation milestones of JINGDONG Logistics, alongside the launch of China's first autonomous delivery robot in the same year. How does JINGDONG Logistics use AI in supply chain management? JINGDONG Logistics applies AI and algorithmic models to inventory management, demand forecasting, route planning and transportation decisions. JINGDONG Logistics applies these models across road, air, rail and multimodal transportation networks. How much does JINGDONG Logistics spend on research and development? JINGDONG Logistics invested RMB4.1 billion in research and development in 2025. That figure represents an increase of 15.8% compared with the previous year. How many patents does JINGDONG Logistics hold? JINGDONG Logistics had received authorisation for more than 5,500 patents and software products as of 31 December 2025. More than 3,000 of those authorised patents and software products relate to automation and unmanned technologies. Which transport modes does JINGDONG Logistics' transportation technology cover? JINGDONG Logistics applies AI and algorithmic models to transportation decisions across road, air, rail and multimodal networks. Multimodal coverage allows JINGDONG Logistics to make transportation decisions across modes instead of optimising a single mode in isolation. About JINGDONG Logistics JINGDONG Logistics is a supply chain and logistics technology provider with end-to-end capabilities spanning supply chain planning, warehousing, sorting, transportation and last-mile delivery. JINGDONG Logistics combines supply chain software, AI and algorithms, automation equipment, robotics and systems integration to improve the way inventory and goods move through the supply chain. JINGDONG Logistics opened its first highly automated "Asia No. 1" logistics park in Shanghai in 2014 and the world's first fully automated B2C warehouse in Shanghai in 2017. Figures in this post: R&D investment of RMB4.1 billion and the 15.8% year-on-year increase refer to full-year 2025. Patent and software product counts are stated as of 31 December 2025.
