In the past, visitors enjoying cycling, skateboarding, or camping along the Xuhui Riverside would have to walk a considerable distance to find snacks or drinks. Now, they can simply place an order on the spot and have their food delivered from the sky within moments.
On September 21, Meituan's first low-altitude delivery network in Shanghai, known as the West Bund Air Network, fully entered its commercial phase. This marks the launch of the country's first waterfront low-altitude delivery route network.
The network is built around key locations including West Bund Dream Center, Xuhui Riverside Public Open Space, Mosu Space Nebula One, and the plaza in front of McDonald's Longteng Avenue store, covering commercial, office, and park scenarios.
When a user places an order, a delivery rider stationed nearby transports the meal to the closest Meituan drone smart docking station, where automated robotic arms handle the loading and unloading of goods. Simultaneously, the drone receives instructions, flies to the designated station, picks up the meal, and follows a planned route to deliver it, completing the entire process in as little as 10 minutes. During the trial period, weekend orders exceeded 100 per day.
Behind this swift delivery is a fully self-developed technical system that integrates drones, ground infrastructure, and a dispatch command center. Meituan has equipped the West Bund Air Network with its fourth-generation self-developed drones, featuring automated meal-bag mounting, night-time visual positioning, omnidirectional obstacle avoidance, and designated-point emergency landing. These drones operate reliably in temperatures up to 50°C, winds of level 6, moderate rain, and moderate snow.
Meanwhile, under the command of the network's "super brain" — the Cloud Hub M-DaaS 3 dispatch system — the system can assess abnormal situations within 100 milliseconds. In the event of sudden weather changes or airspace disruptions, it swiftly adjusts flight routes or triggers safety protocols to ensure orders are safely delivered.
While a single route addresses delivery between two points, a route network flexibly expands as more points are added, amplifying the value of each location within it. Nearly 20 chain restaurant brands have already joined the network, including McDonald's, A Mu Shou Zuo, and M Stand, with expectations to expand to over 40 brands within the year.
The spatial depth of the Xuhui West Bund waterfront often forces ground delivery routes to take long detours. However, with drone delivery, certain products from West Bund Dream Center can now reach locations beyond the farthest range of standard couriers, also offering nearby office workers a more convenient choice for workday lunches.
The low-altitude economy is a key emerging industry for Shanghai. The commercial rollout of the West Bund Air Network transforms industrial planning into tangible, everyday experiences for residents. In recent years, leveraging its position as a core hub for Shanghai's artificial intelligence industry, Xuhui District has promoted the two-way integration of AI and the low-altitude economy, establishing itself as a testing ground for industrial applications and a demonstration zone for commercial validation.
Longhua Airport along the Xuhui Riverside is set to be upgraded into a Class A general airport, accelerating the construction of a low-altitude transportation hub in Shanghai's central urban area. West Bund Group has also signed a strategic agreement with Shanghai Low-Altitude Economy Industrial Development Co., Ltd., aiming to build the Xuhui Riverside into a national model area for the integrated development of the low-altitude economy and AI. In the future, platforms such as West Bund Life will accelerate the deployment of innovative scenarios like unmanned retail.