At the Aggregated Intelligence Industry Development Conference (2026) held in Wuhan's Optics Valley, co-hosted by the Aggregated Intelligence Industry Innovation Center and Hubei Science and Technology Investment, former First-Class Inspector and Deputy Director of the Policy and Regulation Department of the State Post Bureau, Jin Bing, highlighted that China holds a unique competitive edge in the field of embodied intelligence, driven by robust whole-machine manufacturing capabilities, a complete industrial chain, and extensive scenario validation. The massive volume of continuously operating data serves as the core foundation of this advantage, a dynamic closely paralleling the express delivery and logistics sector.
"We possess data on a scale that surpasses the combined total of all other regions worldwide, much like our express delivery operations. Our parcel delivery volume has ranked first globally for 12 years, accounting for over 50% of the world's total. It is precisely this wealth of data that enables our embodied robots, drones, unmanned vehicles, and unmanned equipment to iterate faster and achieve mass production at a quicker pace than anywhere else," Jin stated.
On the industry's development timeline, Jin offered a clear forecast: 2025 marks the inaugural year for embodied intelligence, with large-scale penetration expected between 2027 and 2028, followed by universal adoption after 2030. He noted that the overall deployment pace is likely to accelerate further. "The speed of AI iteration has evolved from advancing weekly to now progressing every five days. As Elon Musk suggests, silicon-based life may surpass carbon-based life within three years," he added.
Currently, industrial manufacturing represents the largest application scenario for embodied intelligence, while logistics, inspection, elderly care, and commercial services have already completed batch validation. The logistics sector has shown particularly notable progress, with dexterous hands already deployed at a thousand-unit scale on production lines. Companies like SF Express and China Post have taken the lead, while JD.com has entered into deep collaboration with Unitree Robotics, unlocking significant market potential.
"JD.com alone employs 150,000 full-time riders for instant delivery, supplemented by 850,000 crowdsourced riders, totaling around one million workers. However, future production lines may no longer require such extensive manual labor. Richard Liu has also emphasized the need to replace human labor with embodied intelligence. JD's warehousing has already achieved 99% automation, operating 'dark factories' with unmanned systems. As business volumes multiply severalfold, relying solely on human effort can no longer meet operational efficiency demands," Jin concluded.