JD.com founder and chairman Liu Qiangdong delivered a striking vision at the 2026 APEC CEO Summit in Beijing on June 21: the era of human delivery workers is coming to an end, and the company is investing heavily to ensure its 700,000 blue-collar employees transition into the age of robotics — not get left behind.
"In the future, all deliveries will be made by robots. There will be no need for delivery workers," Liu said at the summit. "But I don't want our 700,000 brothers to lose their jobs or go hungry."
To address this, JD.com has launched what it calls the "Nirvana Plan" — a massive workforce retraining initiative. The company has signed partnership agreements with 120 schools across China to provide systematic technical training for its frontline workers, including delivery drivers, warehouse sorters, and distribution center staff.
The training curriculum covers mechanical maintenance, electrical fundamentals, automated equipment operation, and fault diagnosis. Upon completion, these workers will transition into roles maintaining, repairing, and monitoring the robots and autonomous systems that are replacing manual logistics.
"Even machines can break down. When they do, someone has to fix them," Liu explained. "We're turning blue-collar workers into white-collar workers — letting them work indoors, no longer exposed to wind and rain, no longer having to endure such hardship."
The plan builds on JD.com's significant investments in autonomous logistics. The company's 6th-generation "Lone Wolf" autonomous delivery vehicles have already entered mass production, with thousands slated for deployment across 30 Chinese cities in 2026. Each vehicle has a range of 180 km and can handle complex urban scenarios including mixed traffic and narrow roads. JD has also built China's largest drone delivery network for rural areas, capable of completing village deliveries in as little as 7 minutes.
Liu emphasized that technology should improve human well-being — not replace human dignity. "As a business, if you have new technology, it should make our lives better and our work more interesting, not use technology to deprive people of their rights," he said.
The Nirvana Plan was first hinted at during a May 2026 internal meeting, where Liu revealed that JD.com had already built over 80 "robobase" training facilities. "Our 700,000 workers will work in large open-plan factories, each with a workstation, screens, and diagnostic equipment," he described at the time. "Plug a robot in and instantly know which arm is broken."
The initiative is seen as a potential model for how large enterprises can manage the workforce transition driven by AI and automation. China's express delivery sector — already the world's largest and most efficient — is rapidly adopting autonomous technologies, and JD's approach offers a rare case of a major employer proactively retraining rather than downsizing.
Liu also used the summit to call for international cooperation on AI governance. He announced that all of JD's technology projects would be fully open to overseas partners, and urged APEC economies to begin cross-border collaboration on managing AI's societal impacts. "No single country can independently address the social challenges brought by new technology," he said.
Source: Dahe Caifang, Sina Tech / Original reporting from the 2026 APEC CEO Summit
