Integrated Bus and Logistics Network: Ambitious Vision, But Can Youjia and DiDi Make It Work?

Yesterday morning, on a bus route in Chancheng District, Foshan City, an autonomous minibus pulled steadily into a stop with sparse passengers. On the roadside, a driver was loading packages into a van, with a "Didi Freight" sign behind him. This scene happened to be a slice of the "public transit + logistics" network depicted when Youjia Innovation and Didi Freight signed their agreement yesterday. But after standing here watching for ten minutes, I noticed that the unmanned minibus ran three empty trips, while the logistics vehicle next to it was fully loaded yet still hadn't found a suitable spot for unloading.