JD.com Founder Predicts Robots Will Replace Couriers

JD.com founder and chairman Richard Liu said robots will replace the company's delivery couriers "sooner or later," according to reporting by Computerworld and coverage that cites the Financial Times. Computerworld reports Liu spoke at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Forum and quoted him saying, "It will definitely be robots delivering packages. But I really don't want our 700,000 brothers to go without food and without jobs." Computerworld reports the firm has signed agreements with about 120 schools to retrain couriers for roles such as robot repair and maintenance. KR Asia and other outlets report JD.com is testing experimental automated delivery models; none of the sources attach a firm timetable to a complete replacement.

Computerworld reports the retraining agreements cover roughly 120 educational institutions; coverage frames those courses toward maintenance and servicing of automated delivery equipment. KR Asia notes the company is trialing automated delivery prototypes but provides no technical specifications on vehicle types, autonomy levels, or deployment scale. Reporting does not provide details such as sensor suites, SLAM stacks, fleet-management software, or operational metrics for the trials.

Editorial analysis: Companies operating last-mile logistics increasingly field mixed human-plus-robot pilots to reduce labor costs and extend delivery hours. Observed patterns in comparable deployments show early fleets focus on constrained environments (campuses, gated communities) and require mature teleoperation, reliable charging/maintenance workflows, and robust error-handling for unstructured urban contexts. Retraining and partnership programs with vocational schools are a common mitigation strategy reported across large operators pursuing automation.

Editorial analysis: The scale here is notable. Reporting places the affected workforce at about 700,000 couriers, which is large relative to other single-employer automation plans. That scale makes JD.com's public statements consequential for labor-market and logistics-technology observers. Broader data cited in reporting situates this within a large Chinese gig economy: Computerworld references researchers who project about 320 million gig workers across roles including delivery and transport. For robotics practitioners, the story underscores demand drivers for durable field robots, remote diagnostics, and modular repairability if operators follow through on large-scale rollout.

Editorial analysis: Observers should track three measurable indicators:

• •technical trial disclosures, vehicle form factors, autonomy levels, and environment constraints, which would appear in pilot announcements or technical demos
• •scale-up signals such as procurement contracts, factory orders, or public fleet counts
• •outcomes from retraining programs, including curricula, certification standards, and employer-hiring paths from participating schools. Reporting to date documents the founder's remarks and the retraining agreements but does not provide those operational or curriculum-level details

What sources do not show: none of the published reports provide a company timeline for replacing human couriers, detailed specifications of the robotic delivery systems under test, or independent verification of pilot performance metrics. Computerworld's coverage includes Liu's quoted remarks and the retraining-program claim, while KR Asia and other outlets report ongoing experiments without technical disclosures.