AI in China is now moving beyond tech demos to deliver concrete improvements to the lives of professionals and rural operators, driven by close cooperation between public authorities and private companies. At the opening of the World AI Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, solutions such as map‑free autonomous delivery vehicles and intelligent medical assistants were highlighted as drivers of “inclusive growth.”
Public‑private cooperation accelerating deployments
The conference’s most notable announcement was Zelostech’s mass production rollout of a Level 4 “map‑free” autonomous driving solution. By removing dependence on costly, time‑consuming high‑definition maps, the company cuts deployment times from several weeks to under a day, reduces costs, and enables autonomous delivery in remote rural areas.
Kong Qi, CEO of Zelostech, sums up the goal: to solve concrete problems — labour shortages linked to an ageing population, geographic constraints — so that “more people can benefit from e‑commerce and a better quality of life.” Local authorities are facilitating these trials by opening roads to autonomous vehicles and supporting projects, demonstrating a model in which public policy and industry coordinate innovation and rollout.
Concrete use cases in healthcare, education and commerce
These technologies aren’t confined to exhibition halls. In rural areas, AI tools are transforming access to specialised services. A robovan enabled an orchard farmer in Wuhan to increase his daily deliveries… [source text truncated]
