Meituan
About
About Meituan
Meituan’s aerial-delivery network connects merchant loading points, autonomous aircraft, transfer stations and customer collection sites. Its fourth-generation M-Drone platform carries food and retail orders through dense urban routes, while M-Port stations support loading, charging and local handoff. M-DaaS software manages aircraft, routes, weather and operating status across the network.
The latest M-Drone 4L Winch can lower packages to destinations without landing and is designed for operation across rain, snow, wind and a broad temperature range. Meituan reports more than 900,000 completed commercial drone orders. Its Little Hornet ground robots extend autonomous delivery inside airports and other controlled facilities, linking the aerial network with shorter indoor or campus movements.
Articles
Operations
Operating milestones
- Operating milestone
2026-08-30 - Meituan reported more than one million cumulative urban drone-delivery orders by July 2026. - Urban drone-delivery network
Source - Operating milestone
2026-08-30 - Meituan’s Xiao Huangfeng embodied delivery robot completed 50,000 cumulative delivery orders by July 2026. - Xiao Huangfeng embodied delivery robot
Source
Deployments
- Operating use
2026-08-30 - Meituan operated 65 urban drone-delivery routes as of July 2026. - Urban drone-delivery network
Source - Operating use
2026-08-30 - More than 1,500 partner-brand merchants participated in Meituan’s urban drone-delivery network by July 2026. - Urban drone-delivery network
Source - Operating use
2025-03-20 - Meituan's Keeta Drone completed a cross-sea low-altitude logistics delivery in Hong Kong and prepared the route for regular operation. - completed route demonstration preparing regular operation - Hong Kong cross-sea route
Source
Supply
Supply chain relationships
- Hesai Technology
Inbound - Perception - Hesai will supply FTX solid-state lidar for Meituan Keeta next-generation delivery drones
Source - RoboSense
Inbound - Perception - Meituan robovan logistics programs uses RoboSense LiDAR
Source - NVIDIA
Inbound - Compute & Control - Meituan incorporated NVIDIA Jetson AGX Xavier into autonomous delivery vehicles documented in 2019
Source - Benewake
Inbound - Perception - Benewake identifies Meituan logistics drones as a terrain-following lidar customer case
Source - Hesai Technology
Inbound - Perception - Meituan ordered Hesai LiDAR for Meituan robovan logistics programs
Source
Timeline
Events
- 2026-08-28 - Funding - Sharpa discloses RMB4.5B+ cumulative financing and RMB22B valuation
Named investors include Alibaba, Meituan, Tencent, JD.com, Transsion, Sequoia China, Qiming Venture Partners, Meituan DragonBall and Guanghe Venture Capital. The disclosure covers cumulative financing rather than one current round, and no individual-round amounts were reported. Sharpa was founded in late 2024 by Hesai co-founders Yifan Li, Shaoqing Xiang and Kai Sun.
Source - 2026-05-25 - Funding - Tianji completes CNY1B combined Series B and B+ at near-CNY10B valuation
GL Ventures and Meituan Strategic Investment jointly led; Tencent, Gaorong Capital, Photosynthetic Ventures and Granite Asia participated. The May announcement covered consecutive Series B and B+ financings totaling CNY1 billion. Proceeds support technology development, scaled production and a global sales network; the near-CNY10 billion valuation remains separate.
Source - 2026-05-21 - Capability - Meituan puts low-altitude delivery network into regular operation
The company introduced M-Drone 4L Winch, M-Port 3 and M-DaaS 3 as an integrated logistics system. Meituan said the network had completed more than 900,000 real customer orders. The company began recruiting authorised service providers to expand the model into additional Chinese provinces and delivery scenarios.
Source - 2026-04-29 - Deployment - Meituan delivery robots enter Chongqing airport
The indoor-outdoor robots entered service at the airport's T3 terminal on April 29. Passengers can order from terminal merchants in the Meituan app and receive goods at departure gates. Meituan reported nearly 37,000 cumulative Little Hornet deliveries and an average ten-minute saving for travellers.
Source - 2025-12-23 - Partnership - Hesai to supply FTX lidar for Keeta delivery drones
Keeta’s M-Drone 4L combines lidar with vision and GNSS; a launch demonstration included a two-kilometre nighttime flight using lidar-based navigation. Keeta’s network covered 65 routes and had completed more than 740,000 deliveries at the announcement. Hesai planned large-scale production and delivery of the lighter second-generation FTX in 2026.
Source - 2025-11-24 - Partnership - Benewake introduces terrain-following sensor for low-altitude drones
The downward-looking LiDAR maintains centimetre-level height estimates over changing terrain and is designed for all-weather flight-controller integration. Time-of-flight ranging measures reflected laser pulses to give the aircraft a direct altitude input during low-level operations.
Source - 2025-04-22 - Regulatory - Meituan earns nationwide low-altitude logistics certificate for delivery drones
The Civil Aviation Administration of China reviewed Meituan's fourth-generation drone. The certificate allows regular commercial drone delivery services across China. Meituan had opened 53 delivery routes and completed more than 450,000 drone orders by the end of 2024.
Source - 2025-03-20 - Deployment - Keeta Drone completes first cross-sea drone delivery in Hong Kong
Keeta Drone said Meituan completed its first low-altitude logistics delivery task in Hong Kong on March 20, 2025. The delivery landed at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology after a takeoff command from Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee. Keeta described the route as a cross-sea scenario between Hong Kong Science Park and Ma On Shan Park.
Source - 2024-12-17 - Deployment - Meituan opens commercial drone routes in Dubai
Dubai's civil aviation authority issued Meituan a BVLOS drone-delivery commercial-operation certificate. The company opened multiple commercial routes in the emirate on the same date. Meituan framed the deployment as an export of its urban low-altitude logistics technology.
Source - 2023-07-05 - Product Launch - Meituan launches fourth-generation delivery drone
The aircraft was developed over more than two years for dense urban delivery routes. Meituan said it could operate from minus 20 to 50 degrees Celsius and in rain, snow, strong wind and darkness. At launch, Meituan reported nearly 170,000 drone deliveries across operating areas in Shenzhen and Shanghai.
Source - 2021-12-31 - Partnership - Meituan selected Hesai lidar for autonomous-delivery vehicles
Meituan’s autonomous delivery plans to cover 2,800 cities, including mountainous areas with harsh climates. Meituan had already started autonomous delivery project back in 2016 to explore the applications for autonomous logistics. Using logistics network, delivery mode and intelligent delivery terminal to form the overall solution for Meituan autonomous delivery.
Source
Relations
Relationships
- Qualcomm
Robotics Rb5 Ecosystem Partner - Meituan participates in the Qualcomm Robotics RB5 ecosystem.
- Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport
Airport Deployment - Meituan Little Hornet robots deliver to airport gates in Chongqing.
- Dubai
Commercial Deployment - Meituan opened commercial BVLOS drone-delivery routes in Dubai.