Layout Embodied Intelligence: JD.com Goes Left, Meituan Goes Right

JD.com and Meituan, with their profound technological genes and extensive scenario resources, are actively integrating embodied intelligence into their core strategic blueprints. Although they have different approaches, their goals are highly consistent: to drive an efficiency revolution in their main businesses through embodied intelligence and build core competitiveness for the future.

Liu Qiangdong and Wang Xing are sitting at the same table again. This time, what they're vying for is not the milk tea in your hand, but the ticket to the next era: embodied intelligence.

As the core player in shelf e - commerce and the leader in the local life service sector, JD.com and Meituan's main businesses are not directly related to embodied intelligence. However, the technological accumulation and scenario experience deeply rooted in their corporate genes precisely constitute the core elements for the development of embodied intelligence. As Meituan CEO Wang Xing emphasized, Meituan is essentially a technology - driven enterprise; JD.com CEO Xu Ran also pointed out that "AI is playing an increasingly important value - driving role in JD.com's overall business."

When AI becomes the core narrative for both, as the key carrier for AI capabilities to penetrate the physical world, embodied intelligence naturally becomes a scarce target for these two giants to compete for in their strategic layouts. Its value is manifested in two dimensions: on the one hand, relying on the technological leap of embodied intelligence, it is expected to drive a breakthrough improvement in the efficiency of their core businesses; on the other hand, this technology has the potential for full - chain penetration and efficiency reconstruction.

Specifically:

Wang Xing clearly stated that the company will deepen cooperation with invested robotics enterprises, strengthen the organic integration of Robotics and AI, and continuously iterate on key capabilities such as automated delivery. The technological leap of embodied intelligence will drive the innovation of core elements in its supply chain and last - mile delivery system, effectively reducing fulfillment costs. In addition, Wang Xing has a more ambitious vision of "connecting" the physical world and the digital world, and embodied intelligence is the central hub.

On the basis of optimizing the fulfillment process, JD.com is also focusing on promoting the technological synergy between JD Cloud and embodied intelligence products, which is expected to enhance its competitiveness in the cloud service market. At the same time, by listing embodied intelligence products on its e - commerce platform, JD.com aims to seize the first - mover advantage in the embodied intelligence retail channel, build a "unique" barrier, and further consolidate its comprehensive competitiveness in the shelf e - commerce field.

JD.com and Meituan, with their profound technological genes and extensive scenario resources, are actively integrating embodied intelligence into their core strategic blueprints. Although they have different approaches, their goals are highly consistent: to drive an efficiency revolution in their main businesses through embodied intelligence, build core competitiveness for the future, and occupy a strategic high - ground in the next round of industrial competition empowered by AI.

Parallel Tracks of Investment and Self - R & D: Don't Miss Out on Embodied Intelligence

The strategies of large enterprises often bear a trace of history. Whether it's large - scale models or embodied intelligence, Internet giants with a keen sense of smell always adopt the approach of "investment + self - R & D" for strategic layout. The former bets on potential players through industrial investment to grow together and can maximize the value of new targets in the shortest time through industrial cooperation. The latter is conducive to long - term development and gaining control over technology.

In terms of investment, Meituan is more aggressive than JD.com and even any other large enterprise. Meituan is the largest external shareholder of the popular Yushu Technology. Behind the move of "buying half of the track" is the best footnote to Meituan's "technology + retail" strategy.

According to the statistics of the Embodied Intelligence Research Institute, since 2024, Meituan has made 8 investments in the field of embodied intelligence, participating in companies such as Zibianliang Robotics, Miaodong Technology, Yushu Technology, Yinhe Tongyong, and Tashizhihang. Judging from the nature of the invested enterprises, Meituan's investment layout in embodied intelligence includes the robot body, the robot brain, and the combination of the brain and the body.

Overall, it's not about betting on the founding team or a single development path, but about the logic of "buying the track" for the future. After all, embodied intelligence is still in its infancy. The only certainty is that this trend is irreversible, but no one can make a definite conclusion on how to achieve it.

Chart by the Embodied Intelligence Research Institute, data from public sources

In addition to financial investment, Meituan also forms a "strong - binding" development posture with the invested enterprises, empowering each other through its own scenario advantages and the capabilities of the invested enterprises.

The most typical case occurred in September 2024 when Meituan and Yinhe Tongyong signed a strategic cooperation agreement. The two parties will jointly develop the world's first intelligent pharmacy solution for humanoid robots and cooperate in multiple fields such as offline retail, intelligent warehouses, and intelligent logistics.

Yinhe Tongyong can be classified as a humanoid robot enterprise of the "large - scale model + body" type. It improves the generalization ability of robots through simulated data training, enabling robots to "recognize" objects. The wheeled and foldable body structure design allows robots to move smoothly in scenarios and expand the scope of operation. The combination of these features enables its humanoid robots to have the basic ability to work in retail scenarios.

Image source: Yinhe Tongyong

When Yinhe Tongyong's technological strength meets Meituan's channel and scenario advantages, it not only provides real - world work verification for Yinhe Tongyong but also injects new automated, unmanned, and all - weather productivity into Meituan's retail business. Wang He, the founder of Yinhe Tongyong, revealed that two 24 - hour "unmanned" pharmacies operated by humanoid robots have been established in Beijing, and the plan is to set up 100 such pharmacies nationwide by the end of the year.

Compared with Meituan, JD.com has made fewer investments in the field of embodied intelligence, but its investments are extremely generous. In July 2024, JD.com made a strategic investment of 200 million yuan in Xianglu Technology, a company developing AI cooking robots. In May 2025, it led the Series B+ financing of another star enterprise in embodied intelligence, Zhiyuan Robotics.

Fewer investments do not mean that JD.com is "hesitating." On the contrary, JD.com may attach even more importance to it, which can be seen from its self - R & D efforts.

At the beginning of this year, Liu Qiangdong visited projects related to embodied intelligence in Hong Kong. Subsequently, JD.com officially announced its entry into the field of embodied intelligence, established a special business department, and focused on the R & D of intelligent products for household scenarios. At the same time, it recruited Shen Hui, the former vice - president of SenseTime, to join as the person - in - charge of the embodied intelligence project. At that time, there were speculations in the industry that some technical backbones of SenseTime's "Yuanluobo" project also joined.

In July, JD.com confirmed that it will soon release AI trendy products. It is foreseeable that these AI trendy products developed by JD.com will definitely be listed on JD Mall and appear together with other related products of JD.com. By then, JD.com will firmly hold the leading position in the robot sales platform.

In 2022, Meituan established the Shenzhen Meituan Robotics Research Institute, which is committed to the R & D of common key technologies for robots such as drones, autonomous driving, and embodied intelligence. Mao Yinian, the vice - president of Meituan and the person - in - charge of the drone business, serves as the chairman and dean of the Meituan Robotics Research Institute.

The institute mainly conducts scientific research cooperation with universities, and its achievements cover fields such as motion control and multi - modal interaction. As of December 2024, the Meituan Robotics Research Institute has reached more than 40 scientific research cooperation agreements with more than 20 universities around the world (such as Tsinghua University and Harbin Institute of Technology).

It can be seen that whether it's investment or self - R & D, in essence, it's a strategic bet by Meituan and JD.com to strengthen their strengths and protect their main businesses from the impact of the times.

JD.com: Becoming the App Store of Embodied Intelligence

What JD.com wants is never just a more cool new product.

By nature, hardware manufacturing is not JD.com's strength, but selling hardware is the secret to its success. Moreover, through years of accumulation, its ability to build an ecological closed - loop for hardware has long become its "killer app."

Now, JD.com is building an ecological closed - loop of "3C channel advantage + AI technology empowerment" for embodied intelligence products. For example, the JoyInside platform built by JD.com implants the interaction capabilities of JD's large - scale model into hardware device terminals such as robots, toys, and home appliances, constructing an integrated embodied intelligence ecosystem of "hardware + software + service."

Image source: JD Cloud

Currently, this platform has cooperated with more than 10 leading manufacturers to launch a number of consumer - grade and industry - grade products. During the JD 618 promotion, the self - operated sales of intelligent robots increased by 3 times year - on - year, and the sales of embodied intelligence robots increased by 17 times year - on - year.

It is believed that in the near future, through product technology empowerment and the reuse of its original 3C channel advantages (including the overlap of target user groups and the accumulation of in - station user data), JD.com can establish a similar user perception of "buy robots on JD.com" as it has established "buy home appliances on JD.com" today.

With underlying technology support and providing a window for products to be seen by users, the embodied intelligence ecosystem built by JD.com has a lot in common with the Apple ecosystem. JD.com may become the App Store of embodied intelligence.

On the one hand, the interaction capabilities accumulated in JD Cloud's models can empower hardware manufacturers to build AI brains, enhancing the human - machine interaction experience. This obviously lowers the R & D threshold for robot manufacturers. As a result, the R & D pressure on models is reduced, and products can become "useful" more quickly, helping products enter the market on the supply side.

Secondly, JD.com's cooperation with these enterprises extends to the sales level. JD.com not only invites these enterprises to enter its mall but also provides them with subsequent technical support. The products of these enterprises are not only consumer - grade AI toys but also industry - grade products, such as Zhongqing PM01 and Magic Atom MagicDog.

On July 15, JD.com signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the leading educational robot brand Whale Robotics. The key cooperation content is that JD Cloud will provide stable cloud service support for Whale Robotics, offer a full - process intelligent agent development platform, and endow its products with the JoyInside AI brain. JD's digital human and AI marketing technologies will also assist in the sales of its products. The starting point of this cooperation is Whale Robotics' entry into JD.com.

Image source: JD Cloud

In addition, some humanoid robot enterprises that have not integrated JD's models, such as Zhuoyide, Lingbao CASBOT, Songyan Power, Xinghaitu, and Yushu Technology, either respond to JD.com's invitation or "coincidentally" gather on JD.com's e - commerce platform. This creates new labels and genes for JD.com's e - commerce business and opens up new sales channels for these embodied intelligence enterprises.

As Cyan Qingxinyichuang said in an interview with Cailian Press, "JD.com currently provides a large amount of promotion resources, and JD.com's procurement and sales are essentially targeted at the B - end, which is conducive to promoting business development." Therefore, both C - end and B - end embodied intelligence enterprises can benefit from JD.com.

In this way, the user perception of "buy robots on JD.com" is gradually established. The manufacturers embedded in JD.com's hardware ecosystem also bring an agglomeration effect. JD.com has full control over the entire supply and sales process of embodied intelligence products and naturally has control over the embodied intelligence hardware ecosystem.

Meituan: "Reconstructing" Business Boundaries with Embodied Intelligence

Compared with JD.com's actions in embodied intelligence, Meituan's actions seem a bit like "casting a wide net." In fact, Meituan is breaking business boundaries by lighting up the lush technology tree.

When examining Meituan's strategic layout in the field of embodied intelligence, there are two conclusions, one superficial and one in - depth.

On the surface, Meituan is well - known as a "food delivery company," with 7 million riders and millions of partner merchants. This is its "ammunition." Therefore, in the food delivery industry that values human efficiency, in addition to continuously improving delivery efficiency through algorithms, Meituan must also actively invest in cutting - edge productivity (robots) to improve business efficiency.

Thus, from the enterprises invested by Meituan, some people see a self - consistent example of "technology" feeding back "retail" and believe that Meituan's embodied intelligence layout always revolves around "retail." For example, Haomo.AI, which Meituan invested in, jointly launched the Mobox 20 unmanned delivery vehicle with Meituan as early as 2021, providing supplementary delivery capacity at the rider end.

Image source: Meituan's automated delivery

Indeed, the unmanned delivery vehicles on the rider side and the unmanned retail on the merchant side are highly coupled with the fulfillment capabilities required by the local life service business. But is Meituan's layout only focused on food delivery and instant retail?

If you change your perspective and go deeper, regarding Meituan as a technology enterprise in the process of transformation to AI, then its business boundaries will no longer be limited to the label of local life services.

Among the technology companies invested by Meituan in the past few years, there are large - scale model companies such as Zhipu, Yuezhianmian, and the acquired Guangnian Zhiwai; the AI infrastructure company Silicon - based Flow; multiple types of robot enterprises such as Yushu Technology, Xinghaitu, Zibianliang, Feixi Technology, Tashizhihang, and Purdue; and autonomous driving enterprises such as Jiushi Intelligence and Haomo.AI. Of course, it has also invested in upstream enterprises such as Hesai Technology and Aixin Yuanzhi...

In addition, Meituan has spent billions of yuan building GPU resources; self - developed the large - language model LongCat, which is said to have capabilities approaching GPT - 4 and is comparable to the first - tier level in China; created an AI - native product, an AI life assistant that can automatically order food; continuously