Source: Bloomberg
Summary
JD.com’s Richard Liu Qiangong has announced the “Nirvana Project”, a plan to transition human delivery workers into robot repair roles as the company increases its use of automated delivery systems. Liu stated that there will be a day when couriers are no longer needed.
Our Reading
The trend returns with a new name.
JD.com’s robotic delivery ambitions echo Amazon’s 2014 acquisition of Kiva Systems. The Nirvana Project’s focus on retraining human workers for robot repair roles mirrors the cyclical nature of job displacement in the tech industry. The name “Nirvana” itself feels like a nod to the 1990s grunge aesthetic. The future of work is already familiar. The era of the delivery robot is just a rebranding of the assembly line.
Author: Evan Null
