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Sample translations submitted: 3
Thai to English: Labour Law General field: Law/Patents
Translation - English A Warning Paper for the Witness (Oral Evidence)
Regardings the law court summons, if any witnesses reject a writ (subpoena), the law court mayl deliver a warrant of arrest as the following civil law section 111(2) and that person will be sue as the following criminal law section 170, will be prosecuted and arrested not over 6 months or fined not over THB 1,000 or, Will be both arrested for 6 months and fined not over THB 1,000.
Any witnesses perjure (give a falsification) to the law court, that person will be sue as the following criminal law section 177 or 181, will be prosecuted, arrested not over 5 years and fined not over THB 30,000.
Thai to English: Thesis of Literary Art General field: Art/Literary
Abstract: This research paper objects to study the usage of the figure of speech from the literature comic book for kids, Vessantara Jataka (Maha Vessandorn Chadok), created and written by Ohm Raychavet (Amarin printing and public leasing company). Studying by analyzing the speech that is used in the literature which imply the feeling through the cartoon characters. Regardings to the Vessantara Jataka comic book, the usage of literary language in the comic is appealing, especially the figure of speech in the comic creates a novel writing and causes the book is more attractive. Above that, it enhances the imagination of children along with the usage of the comic as an instruction media. According to the study of the Vessantara Jataka comic book, there are four types that are used as the figure of speech which is (1) Onomatopoeia, (2) Simile, (3) Hyperbole, (4) Metaphor. The usage of the figure of speech in this comic book is suitable for children and compatible with the content. The study author has an opinion that the literary language in Vessantara Jataka comic book is interesting for research, especially the figure of speech that enlivens the perception of the characters including others important components such as lightning sound. Additionally, the art of the language makes the comic more surreal and also tactical for the literature for children.
Index terms: The figure of speech, comic book, Vessantara Jataka, Bodhisatta
INTRODUCTION
Jataka is a collective story of the Buddha’ virtue since he is a Bodhisatta which is considered to be an educational media for children to perceive virtue and moral in the comic as how the Buddha conducted in the previous lifetime which builds the understanding of the good and bad moral which influences human behaviors in proper. Most of Thai people have a belief in Buddhism which causes the influence in Thai literature.
Vessantara Jataka is a well-known Buddhist literature, or called as a great incarnation of the Buddha as it is the story of Gautama Buddha which is the story of the last incarnation of the Buddha. In Thailand, Maha Chart Kam Luang (Vessantara Jataka) is a first Buddhist literature which is assumed that was created in the reign of King Rama XIII in the Ayuddhaya Age. Afterward, it was called Kalp Mahachart, and Maha Vessandorn Chadok in present. The literature is famous among Thais because it is a significant story of Buddha. Above that, in the present, the Buddhist literature for children has appeared as a comic.
The Buddhist comic contains an instructive content. A comic is a way to publish social value and culture towards children as an entertainment media for them meanwhile giving them knowledge and fun at the same time. The content nourishes children perception and behavior as most children will learn and imitate behavior from what they see and listen.
Nowadays, the tactical of the language in the literature for children need to use proper language and easy to understand. Moreover, using the figure of speech that can describe the feeling and perception of the characters in detail encourage the children’s imagination.
Therefore, the researcher refers the literature of Vessantara Jataka in a comic version to study about the figure of speech as the author has an opinion as it builds imagination and encourages children to understand the story of Buddha. As a result, the researcher chooses this literature to analyze the figure of speech in the comic.
THE OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
To study the figure of speech from Vessantara Jataka in a comic version.
THE PROCEDURE OF THE STUDY
The study of the figure of speech from Vessantara Jataka is studied by the researcher by following procedures;
studying the literature documents and related researches of Vessantara Jataka as following;
Vessantara, the gallant of Himmapan Baanjob Baanruji (2006) wrote about the story of Vessantara since he was born and had an aim to do virtue. He made a sacrifice and endure the hardness of living and became a Bodhisattva.
The analytical study of Vessantara written by Phra Maha Boontaan Aanonto (1997), the study of Vessantara height of generosity. According to the study, a steady ideology of doing good morals of Vessantara was shown in the study. Even though there were many obstacles, he never gave up because his highest aim is to be a Bodhisattva which is the guidance of getting rid of suffering.
studying documents and researches which is related to the comic version of Vessantara Jataka as following;
Wilai Thammawaja (2016, p.1-34) stated that the literature for children is an information resource for children to read or adults can read for their children. If they are toddlers, the book should be a graphic book or comic with the design that is attractive and suitable for children.
Pairoa Ruengsiri (1981) stated that comic or cartoon book is an easy drawing which is unique and odd from a normal picture. Cartoon drawing may have an unreal shape or decrease the insignificant detail to focus more on the humor including using advertisement to enhance its attractiveness.
Hence, the summary meaning of the cartoon is a picture or a symbol from drawing, to create joyfulness or social imitation which may contain the unreal content, to convey the emotion and perception to understand the cartoon character. Currently, the cartoon is popular to make as an animation to make it easier to understand. In contrast, the comic is popular to make it as an educational media in order to enhance reading and analytical skill.
studying documents and researches which is related to the usage of the figure of speech as following;
Dictionary of Royal Thai Academy (2011, p.376) stated the meaning of the figure of speech that it is a term, an expression, or a phrase which illustrates the detailed picture which the speech can be arranged above ordinary to make the clear image of the content.
To summarize, the figure of speech is to tactical compose the various words that the author intended to utilize for visual effects or sentimental more than writing normally.
studying the figure of speech that is utilized in a comic of Vessantara Jataka
summarizing the study and suggestion
THE RESULT OF THE STUDY
The category of the figure of speech;
The usage of the figure of speech is a component of creative writing as similar as a comic which emphasizes the entertainment, fun, and humor in writing. Moreover, enjoy reading, the reader can develop the imaginary creativity skill which accesses the reader to be able to transmit the obvious content through the figure of speech.
Regarding the study of the figure of speech from Vessantara Jataka comic book, the content and conversation in the book contain four categories of the figure of speech;
(1) Onomatopoeia
(2) Simile
(3) Hyperbole
(4) Metaphor
The meaning and examples will be clarified as following;
1.Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is a word that uses to communicate by imitating sounds from nature which is animal sound, human sound, the natural phenomenon such as lighting, raining, windy sound, quoted from Dictionary of Royal Thai literature Academy (2017, p.363). The researcher explains Onomatopoeia with examples as follows;
The words of nature imitation by human and animal behaviors
Gub...Gub (sound of a horse stepping)
The interjection implies an imagination of the movement of a horse. It has been used in Thai literature for ages which is suitable to utilize for the comic as well.
Oou...Waah (sound of a baby weeping, or boo hoo)
The interjection implies an imagination of a newborn baby weeping. It has been used in Thai literature for ages which is suitable to utilize for the comic as well.
Hong! Hong! (sound of a dog barking)
The interjection implies an imagination of a dog barking. It has been used in Thai literature for ages which is suitable to utilize for the comic as well.
Ooc..c Oop..p (sound of choking from something)
The interjection implies an image of a human being bloated from food indigestion. It has been used in Thai literature for ages which is suitable to utilize for the comic as well.
The words of nature imitation by natural phenomenon
Kreun Kreun (sound of an incoming natural phenomenon)
The interjection implies an imagination of an earthquake, mountain, storm raining, and heavy sea waves. It has been used in Thai literature for ages which is suitable to utilize for the comic as well.
Zuu (sound of a heavy raining)
The interjection implies an imagination of a variant of the sky and a heavy raining. It has been used in Thai literature for ages which is suitable to utilize for the comic as well.
The Onomatopoeia that is written in the Vessantara Jataka contains the imitation of natural sounds which is the human voice, human or animal action, and natural phenomenon. The utilization of Onomatopoeia access the reader to receive the feeling and perception of the character and situation.
2.Simile
Simile is a comparison of two things by using a conjunction word to connect it together such as like, as same as, as similar as, as… as ..., like… like…, equal to, just like, etc. quoted from Dictionary of Royal Thai literature Academy (2017, p.478). The examples are provided as follows;
“Ms.Pusadee: my son, please don’t leave the country and our citizens then who will look after the country. If you leave, you will be a neglected pasha, the country will be as a deserted honeycomb
King Sonchai: Pusadee, my mother. I need to follow the cultural tradition. Even though mother sees your son as a victory of the country or mother love me as much as all your life, I need to be deployed by them along with the tradition.”
Ohm Ratchavet (1994, p.37)
The conversation above is between King Sonchai and Ms.Pusadee. In the situation, the villagers dispose Vessantara out of the town, but Ms.Pusadee does not want it to happen, hence, she came to talk with him. The Simile is applied in this conversation by using the comparison words such as like, as, as much as.
The comparison of a deserted honeycomb means the human has a town as a living place but need to be stray out of the town and live in the jungle, as same as bees, that they need to build the honeycomb and make honey to survive. If the bees do not live in the honeycomb, it is a deserted honeycomb without life.
The comparison of the son as a victory means son is pride and success for parents which also compare the love for her son as all her life. The usage of Simile influences the reader is deep into the story.
“A villager: so jealous! that old man has such a beautiful wife. She’s as gorgeous as an angel”
Ohm Ratchavet (1994, p.53)
The conversation above stated about the villagers get jealous of the old man that he has a young and beautiful wife. The Simile is applied in this conversation by using the comparison words “as ..adjective.. as”. The sentence sends an information to the reader how gorgeous his wife is it.
“Vessantara: let two of you be as a golden argosy, bring your father across the ocean is the world. The father is crossing the shore to the birth. It will lead humans and angels to cross. Please help me this time”
Ohm Ratchavet (1994, p.72)
The conversation above is between Vessantara and Kanha and Chali (his two sons); in the situation of Chu Chok (an old man priest) asking for his sons (Kanha & Chali) to take care of which is Vessantara. From the story, Vessantara needs to learn how to be a giver which he needs to give his son to Chu Chok with willingness.
The Simile is applied in this conversation by using the conjunction words “as”. The sentence sends an information to the reader how Vessandorn gives one of his hope on his son for his father to succeed the highest of virtue. With the Simile, it accesses the reader feel the way as similar to the characters.
3.Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a word of overexpression to highlight the media, quoted from Dictionary of Royal Thai literature Academy (2017, p.256-257). The example is provided as follows;
“Vessantara: Even though I love my children, I’m devoted to Bodhisatta more 100 to 1000 times”
Ohm Ratchavet (1994, p.75)
This conversation is between Vessantara and Chu Chok. Chu Chok stated about love that he had towards the two children but love towards Bodhisatta is the most worship love which the reader can sense how much love and worship that Vessantara has.
4.Metaphor
Metaphor is a combination of two contradictory but does have something in common or the comparison of an object or a person to something that has a contradictory meaning but understandable, stated from Dictionary of Royal Thai literature Academy (2017, p.319). The examples are provided as follows;
“Kanha: Wahh… my father, please help me. This priest is heartless as a demon, hitting me and my little brother with a wooden stick”
Ohm Ratchavet (1994, p.78)
The conversation above is between Kanha and Vessantara in the situation that the priest, Chu Chok, who asked for his sons to take care of. Chu Chok hit them really hard until their skins had a striped stain. The phrase of Metaphor enhances the heartless of the priest.
According to the study of the Vessantara Jataka comic book, the researcher found that the figure of speech in the comic was suitable for the utilization as well as a comic is an entertaining literature which it does not have only a good content but also aim to make the readers enjoy the story along with the composing word and phrase that the author would like to expose.
Having the figure of speech mostly enhances the reality of the content and allows the children can imagine along the story. On the other hand, the figure of speech could be unreal which attracts the reader interest more on the comic along with the emotional enjoyment and new perception refers to each person imagination.
Conclusion
The result of the study;
The figure of speech, that appeared in the Vessantara Jataka comic, presents the method of utilizing different categories of the figure of speech correctly.
The content of Vessantara Jataka comic book contains the figure of speech more than conversation and description for the content; using
(1) Onomatopoeia, (2) Simile, (3) Hyperbole, and (4) Metaphor in order to add components to encourage the reader to feel, understand and enjoy reading along with having an imaginary creativity and absorb the truly content.
The detailed explanation of the figure of speech, that is found in the Vessantara Jataka comic, as below
(1) Onomatopoeia
Found that there are two sorts of Onomatopoeia which are from the character action and natural phenomenon imitation.
(2) Simile
Found that there is a comparison of the character actions with the conjunctions which are like, as...as…, and as. The Simile was utilized more than the informative content as the objective of the literature is the reading enjoyment.
(3) Hyperbole
Found that the exaggerate word and phase were used to focus on the expression of the character such as love. The author objects to encourage the reader to feel the love expression of the character more obviously.
(4) Metaphor
Found that the comparison was applied by compare the similar word or different meaning to enhance the meaning of the conversation.
However, the comic literature book is consist of an expert author, the method that uses to create a writing, the nice and appealing drawing, the figure of speech that enhance the interesting of the comic, and the informative content that also provides knowledge which is suitable for children and adults. All of above, it makes a good quality literature comic book. It educates the children how to make virtue and also develops their imagination skill. Therefore, the Vessantara Jataka is one of good quality literature comic for children which should be recommended.
Recommendation
1. This is a study of the figure of speech. The researcher has an opinion that the education should provide the study of the language that uses in a comic literature such as how to use the word and phrase from other comic literatures as well.
2. Recording to the analysis of the figure of speech, there are only four were found in the Vessantara Jataka comic. The researcher has an opinion that the study of the figure of speech should be researched in other categories of literature, which is not a Buddhist comic. Hence, other categories of the figure of speech will be studied as well.
3. A research of the children behaviors of reading the comic should be taken as a study in order to know the children motivation of reading to stimulate their attraction for other literature comics.
References
Baanjob Baanruji. (2006). Vessantara, the gallant of Himmapan. (vol.3). BKK: DMG.
Dictionary of Royal Thai Academy. (2011). BKK: Nanmee Book Publication.
Dictionary of Royal Thai literature Academy. (2017). (vol.2) BKK: Arun printing.
Pairoa Ruengsiri. (1981). The creative writing literature for children. BKK: Aksorn Ja Reoun Tasn.
Phra Maha Boontaan Aanonto. (1997). The analytical study of Vessantara height of generosity. The thesis of Buddhism philosophy, The University of Chulalongkorn.
Vijrit Vadtagarn Lt. Col. Royal. (1998). Jataka Literature: 10 incarnations of the Buddhist. (vol.3). BKK: Sangsarn Book.
Wilai Thammawaja. (2016). The Literature books for children. BKK: Thai Watana Panich.
English to Thai: last-mile express delivery General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Automation & Robotics
Source text - English
three million couriers working in last- mile express delivery in China, and an- other one million couriers working for on-demand delivery services.
The country expects the express delivery industry to increase another 60% by 2020,3 requiring an even greater delivery force. However, the working population in China is aging; its num- bers in steady decline since its peak in 2011 (a situation mainly caused by China’s 40-year-old “one-child policy,” which ended in 2016). This decline is expected to continue for at least an- other decade.
These two conditions have motivat- ed the industry to seek a more efficient delivery solution—the autonomous de- livery vehicle. But there are two dimen- sions of challenge—a profitable busi- ness model, and of course technology.
The Business Model of Autonomous Driving in
Last-Mile Delivery
We have seen two major upgrades to the last-mile delivery business model: the warehouse is getting closer to the end users, and deliveries are merged into “multi-deliveries.”
In traditional logistics, the ware- house is a motionless unit used only for storage. Goods are transported from many other locations and then distrib- uted to the multiple end users. The new express logistics, however, redefines the warehouse concept to be not only storage but also a mobile facility that relocates to serve many more users. Last-mile delivery is one such scenario applied to this “motion warehouse” concept, and the autonomous driving vehicle is one of its core technologies. The concept of motion warehouse is a revolution of logistics, which has com- bined the three major elements of retail business—people, goods, and ware- houses—into the new concept. The warehouse is aware of the needs of peo- ple, and provides the goods selection through the AI based big data analysis. In the new “motion warehouse” model, consumers can get the goods they want more accurately and quickly.
BY HUAXIA XIA/MEITUAN, HAIMING YANG/JD CTO GROUP
Is Last-Mile Delivery
a ‘Killer App’ for Self-Driving Vehicles?
CHINA’S E-COMMERCE BOOM has generated a huge logistics demand, both in terms of express package delivery and on-demand food delivery.a
Chinese express firms delivered an estimated 40 billion parcels in 2017; up 28% from the previous year.2 Indeed, China’s on-demand delivery market exceeded over 30 million food orders daily by yearend 2017.
This growth in delivery services has created a healthy job market, with the number of employees in this sector up 130% from 2014 to 2017, according to the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing. Last-mile delivery—the movement of goods from
a transportation hub to final destination—has witnessed huge growth. Today there is an estimated
a http://news.iresearch.cn/content/2017/11/271315.shtml/
70 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM | NOVEMBER 2018 | VOL. 61 | NO. 11
This approach extends the supply chain concept from the warehouse all the way to the end users. In a tradi- tional logistic system, the connection is from the preposition warehouse di- rectly to the end users. (A preposition warehouse is one in close proximity to the consumer). It could be an office building, or a small warehouse set up to serve a community that enables user delivery in 1–2 hours. However, with increasing population and demand, the “campus” model is emerging as an efficient way for even better user experience. Campuses’ aggregate de- livery demands are always large so pre- allocation to customers and traditional (human) last-mile delivery is no longer the most efficient. By transporting a large number of packages together be-
fore the are allocated to customers, and delivering passively (users pick up pack- ages at designated location) and proac- tively (carried directly to the end users), both user experience and efficiency are increased. Autonomous vehicles are key to achieving these benefits.
The Technology of Autonomous Driving in Last-Mile Delivery Autonomous driving technology is not ready to replace human drivers in pas- senger vehicles. Many luxury vehicles may be equipped with advanced driver- assistance systems (ADAS)—including emergency braking, backup cameras, adaptive cruise control, and self-park- ing systems—but they are not fully autonomous. According to SAE Inter- national’s levels of vehicle autonomy
as depicted in Figure 1, current ADAS functions mostly hover around levels 1 or 2. Technology is still far from realiz- ing level 4—a truly driverless car.
Two key challenges for fully auton- omous passenger vehicles are trust- worthiness and price. A typical auton- omous passenger vehicle (as shown in Figure 2) is equipped with an array of state-of-the-art sensors and other technologies that can cost hundreds of thousand dollars.1 But even with such expensive equipment, autono- mous vehicles are still far from reli- able in terms of passenger safety. For example, last March a Tesla driver was killed when his car, set in “autopilot mode,” collided with a median barrier on the highway, causing the vehicle to catch fire.
NOVEMBER 2018 | VOL. 61 | NO. 11 | COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM 71
IMAGE BY CHESKY
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Figure 1. SAE automation levels.
Figure 2. Sensors on a typical autonomous passenger vehicle.
China just issued its first license for self-driving tests last March, and has not yet published any test result data, so we refer to autonomous vehicle dis- engagement reports issued by Califor- nia’s Department of Motor Vehicles in 2017 (and summarized in the accompa- nying table). Waymo’s autonomous car required human assistance every 5,596 miles on average, which is the best among all tested vehicles. By compari- son, a human driver on average has one accident approximately every 165,000 miles. Regulators will require autono- mous cars prove much safer than cur- rent human behavior before drivers are no longer needed behind the wheel. Much more research and engineering efforts, possibly over a decade’s worth, is required to improve autonomous driving technology, including higher- resolution sensors, better algorithms, and faster computing chips.
Last-mile delivery, however, is a solid scenario illustrating how auton- omous-driving technology has been successfully and safely employed. There are a few key differences be- tween a delivery vehicle and a pas- senger vehicle. The last-mile delivery vehicle usually runs slowly, typically 20mph. A slow vehicle requires shorter perception distance, shorter braking distance, and less computing frame rate. Secondly, the last-mile delivery vehicle is typically smaller and lighter than passenger vehicles; this further
Summary of California autonomous vehicle disengagement reports from 2017.
Company
Waymo
GM Cruise Zoox
Baidu
Bosch Mercedes Benz
Autonomous Number miles of disengagements
352545 63 131676 105 2255 14 1979 43 1454 598 1087 652
Miles per disengagement
5596 1254 161 45 2.4 1.7
72 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM | NOVEMBER 2018 | VOL. 61 | NO. 11
decreases the risk of possible damage or harm when an accident happens. Finally, a delivery vehicle is free of passengers, therefore, it has fewer re- quirements for safety, planning, and control algorithms.
There are two major challenges in last-mile delivery, which autonomous driving can help: The distribution lo- cation of the package, and the deliv- ery path. From past experience, when a delivery person arrived on location, the majority of time was spent waiting, especially when the planned delivery consisted of a large number of small packages destined for office build- ings, campuses, and apartments. The waiting time for customers, and the handling time to delivery to custom- ers, killed any efficiency of last-mile delivery. Moreover, the delivery person is paid by the number of packages de- livered, meaning the company often pays a great deal of money for a trip to a single location, which kills any cost ef- ficiency of last-mile delivery.
To be effective, last-mile delivery must determine the best route to dis- pense the most parcels. In a city, the best route is often not the shortest route, and road conditions constantly changed over time. An autonomous driving cart is similar to a larger “self- closing cabinet,” which can save both the average waiting time and the distri- bution time. On the other hand, equip- ment costs increase with the autono- mous approach. Ideally, there would be a cost of only ¥1.5 per autonomous delivery compared with current ¥7–10 per delivery. Achieving this requires reducing costs of trial carts from ¥600,000 to ¥50,000 if the autonomous delivery (and vehicles) are in mass pro- duction.
Autonomous driving vehicles have major technology challenges, too. One obstacle is the behavior of the motion detection system when out in the real world. The algorithm may work perfectly in lab test conditions, but may not perform well when it is on the open road. Another difficulty with these vehicles is the range of vision when driving in dark or shadowing ar- eas. Like the human eye, the range of the vision may vary in different levels of brightness; even with infrared light detection, the vehicle may not “see” in foggy and dusted environments.
How JD Uses the Vehicles in Delivery Scenarios
JD.com is the largest e-commerce plat- form by revenue, and offers a world- class set of online retail services to its legion of users, who now number close to 300 million in total. As a technology- driven company, JD.com has focused considerable effort in developing a ro- bust and scalable retail platform that not only supports the company’s rapid growth but also allows it to provide cut- ting-edge technology and services to its partners and customers.
JD selected last-mile delivery prac- tices as the first line of defense in its campaign to upgrade its logistics infra- structure. JD Logistics’ autonomous de- livery vehicles will primarily be used for last-mile delivery in urban areas, carry- ing packages from dedicated stations to office buildings, pick-up stations, resi- dential area convenience stores, and other locations. It was first used to sup- port JD.com’s renowned two-hour ex- press delivery service and will be rolled
out across JD’s deliver network to be used for a wider range of applications. Autonomous driving vehicles will be loaded at delivery stations and will travel to pick-up points designated in advance by consumers. The recipient can collect the products they order simply by press- ing a button on JD’s mobile app. JD’s delivery vehicle can also recognize the customer using face identification and deliver the product accordingly.
JD conducted its first trial in auton- omous driving vehicles for last-mile de- livery on June 18, 2017 at Renmin Uni- versity, Beijing. The vehicle delivered about 10 packages in approximately six hours. JD subsequently deployed approximately 60 autonomous driving vehicles for last-mile delivery at Bei- jing, Xian, and Hangzhou for pilot AI- based package delivery. The city of Xian has been selected as the headquarters for JD’s fleet of vehicles. In December 2017, JD Group CEO Qiangdong Liu an- nounced last-mile parcel delivery plans for 100 universities.
Figure 3. The deployment progress of JD’s autonomous driving vehicle.
Figure 4. The use cases of the JD autonomous driving vehicle.
big trends china region
NOVEMBER 2018 | VOL. 61 | NO. 11 | COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM 73
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big trends
To be effective, last-mile delivery must determine the best route to dispense the most parcels. In a city, the best route
is often not the shortest route, and road conditions constantly change over time.
As Figure 3 illustrates, the autono- mous driving vehicles have been de- ployed and well tested in Beijing, Xian, and Hangzhou. Cities recently added include Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shang- hai, Shenzhen, Changsha, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Suqian. User scenarios have also expanded from university campuses, to village areas, municipal areas, as well as industrial and institu- tional parks. Due to this wider reach, operations centers will be setup in Bei- jing to serve the north, and Changsha to serve the south.
However, there are still many chal- lenges for future fleet expansion; for example, deployment is currently not available to truly open, more rural en- vironments and human interaction is still required to periodically adjust the autonomous driving path. In addition, the effort to build a fully autonomous driving vehicle network is heavily de- pended on how the technology evolves, moving from cloud computing to edge computing, the capability of sensor networks, and the level of intelligence in artificial intelligence. Moreover, laws and regulations covering autono- mous vehicles on the open road can vary dramatically.
There are many pilot deployments extending the last-mile delivery pro- grams, and as a result many custom- ized last-mile delivery vehicles have joined the general-purpose fleet, such as the smart shopping cart to enhance the supermarket shopping experience; an model used for data- center inspections; moving demo cen- ter vehicles used at conferences, and so on. As shown in Figure 4, JD does not intend to solve all the technology, business, and regulation limitations
of these vehicles; instead, the focus is on carefully designing user scenarios that best fit the strengths of the cur- rent technology.
Last June, JD’s autonomous driv- ing vehicles hit the open road in Bei- jing’s Haidian District (Figure 5). These courier robotic vehicles can perform 360-degree environmental monitoring, automatically avoid roadblocks and pe- destrians, and can react to traffic lights. It can independently stop at a distribu- tion point, send delivery information to the user, and the user can pick up the packages through face recognition, in- put code, or clicking on the JD app link from their mobile phone. The vehicle can store up to 30 containers, and can travel 15k/h. As a result, last-mile deliv- eries can upgrade from 100–200 orders a day, to 1,000 orders per day.
Production difficulties still persist: the fault tolerance of the object recog- nition technology, the business pro- cessing for package returns from the end user to the warehouse, and the reli- ability of the vehicle (especially round- ing corners) are three major challenges that must be resolved. In the early pro- duction period, human interaction may still be necessary. However, we
Figure 5. A JD courier robot on a road in Haidian District, Beijing.
74 COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACM | NOVEMBER 2018 | VOL. 61 | NO. 11
Figure 6. Diagram of an on-demand delivery for Meituan’s autonomous vehicle.
believe when more road test data is ac- cumulated and analyzed, the accuracy and efficiency of these vehicles will be fully achieved.
How Meituan Uses the Vehicles
in Delivery Scenarios
Meituan is the world’s largest e-com- merce platform for local services. Meituan’s service covers over 200 cate- gories, including catering, on-demand delivery, car sharing, bicycle sharing, hotel and travel, movie, entertainment and lifestyle, and spreads over 2,800 counties, districts, and cities in China. In 2017, Meituan served 310 million ac- tive consumers and 4.37 million active merchants on the platform.
One of Meituan’s services is its on-demand food delivery known as Meituan Waimai. By May 2018, Meitu- an Waimai was delivering 21 million orders per day and had hired 600,000 food-delivery riders. The service is usu- ally within three kilometers, with tight time limits of 30 minutes. The fulfill- ment process includes three phases: 1. The courier goes to the restaurant to pick up the food, usually by walking through a shopping mall to get to the restaurant; 2. The courier transports the food next to consumer’s building; 3. The courier walks or takes an elevator to the consumer (See Figure 6). In prac- tice, each phase takes approximately one-third of the total delivery time.
Different phases need different types of vehicles. In phase 1 and phase 3, we use an indoor robot, as shown in Figure 7. This robot is 0.5m by 0.8m; its small size allows for easy entrance to shopping malls and office buildings. It does localization based on WiFi finger- print and vision SLAM. It can also com- municate through Zigbee to an eleva- tor control module, thus can go up and down the buildings. The robot receives order information from the cloud scheduling system, runs to the mer- chant following the scheduled route, opens the top cover automatically so the merchant can put the food inside. When approaching its destination, the robot sends a text message to the user’s mobile app, and then the user can pick up the food using the password code included in the text message.
In phase 2, a larger and faster auton- omous delivery vehicle is used for street transportation, as shown in Figure 8.
Figure 7. Meituan’s indoor delivery robot.
Figure 8. Meituan’s outdoor delivery vehicle.
The vehicle measures one-meter wide and two-meters long, with maximum speed of 40km/h and maximum load of 10 orders. It uses the same technology as an autonomous passenger vehicle, including lidar, camera, and GNSS re- ceiver. It can detect pedestrians, bicy- cles, automobiles, and other obstacles, and can also react to traffic lights.
Challenges and Opportunities
There are many challenges for the large-scale deployment of autonomous delivery vehicles: The technology is not mature yet, the entire ecosystem must be further developed to make it more reliable, and the costs much shrink.
Moreover, our living infrastructure is not yet ready for autonomous driv- ing. Many communities have locked or gated entrances, which require manual operation using a key or access card. Many buildings have revolving or swing doors, which are easy for humans to use but very difficult for robots. Elevators are rarely robot-ready. In fact, we must talk to building owners to get a permit to install a communication module in every elevator. These frustrations must be handled before we can fully enjoy autonomous vehicle deployment.
Government regulation of autono- mous vehicle is a critical concern. While these delivery vehicles run at a fairly slow speed, most regulators
consider “slow” a grey area, fitting be- tween high-speed passenger vehicles and bicycles. Government regulations are not ready to handle pure level 4 (driver-free) vehicles like autonomous delivery vehicles. What happens if the autonomous vehicle is involved in an accident or a traffic violation? Who is responsible? Closed environments such as common in last-mile deliv- ery can be used as pilot scenarios for learning that enable more complex, open road scenarios. This suggests two autonomous driving vehicles de- velopment methodologies: find a kill- er-level use case to drive the business model; or find the best technology and build the ecosystem.
Fortunately, this somewhat imma- ture technology is acceptable for slow- speed delivery vehicles. The lack of infrastructure support may prevent us from mass deployment in some situa- tions, but there are still many suitable scenarios for first-stage deployment. As for government regulation, the Chi- nese government is among the most supportive for high-tech innovations like autonomous vehicles.
The Future of Autonomous Delivery Vehicles
China’s e-commerce boom brings a huge volume of logistics demand, both for express package delivery and for on-demand food delivery. The last-mile delivery is a perfect use case for auton- omous driving technology.
Large-scale deployment of autono- mous vehicles still depends on technol- ogy maturity and governing regulations. Nevertheless, these issues are not show- stoppers. There are many pilot scenar- ios with government support, helping the industry step into the water of au- tonomous driving in order to accumu- late the data and real-world experience needed to improve its technology.
References
1. Levine, S. What it really costs to turn a car into a self- driving vehicle; https://qz.com/924212, 2017.
2. Xinhua News. Chinese express firms deliver over 40 bln parcels in 2017, 2018; https://bit.ly/2QnioCi
3. Xinhua News. China’s express delivery sector prepares for post-holiday bonanza, 2018; http://www.xinhuanet. com/english/2018-02/24/c 136996545.htm.
Huaxia Xia is Scientist and General Manager of the Autonomous Delivery Department at Meituan, Beijing.
Haiming Yang is Chief Architect at JD CTO Group, Beijing. Copyright held by owners/authors.
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รูปภาพ 3 การปล่อยตัวยานพาหนะขับเคลื่อนอัตโนมัติของบริษัท JD
Deployed = ที่ปล่อยไปแล้ว
Deploying = ที่กำลังปล่อย
Scenario = เคสตัวอย่าง
New Scenario = เคสตัวอย่างที่สร้างใหม่
National Operation & Dispatching Center (Plan) = ศูนย์ปฏิบัติการประจำชาติ
รูปภาพ 4 เคสยานพาหนะขับเคลื่อนอัตโนมัติของบริษัท JD ที่ถูกนำมาใช้
Scenario = เคสตัวอย่าง
Logistics Distribution = การกระจายสินค้าขนส่ง
Estate Management & Storage = การจัดการและการจัดเก็บ
Product type = ประเภทสินค้า
Small distribution robot = หุ่นยนต์กระจายสินค้าขนาดเล็ก
Medium distribution robot = หุ่นยนต์กระจายสินค้าขนาดกลาง
Indoor Inspection robot = หุ่นยนต์ตรวจสอบภายในอาคาร
Outdoor Inspection robot = หุ่นยนต์ตรวจสอบภายนอกอาคาร
Legend = รุ่น
Major Function = หน้าที่หลัก
Distribution of small items = กระจายสินค้าขนาดเล็ก
Distribution of small & medium items = กระจายสินค้าขนาดเล็กและกลาง
Fire warning security = ระบบรักษาความปลอดภัยเตือนเหตุเพลิงไหม้
Operating place = สถานที่ปฏิบัติการ
Campus & District & High-end district = มหาวิทยาลัย & เขตเมือง & เขตเมืองที่มีตึกสูง
Storehouse, Office building = คลังสินค้า, ตึกสำนักงาน
Storehouse, Factory area, Building, Community = คลังสินค้า, พื้นที่บริเวณโรงงาน, ตึก, ชุมชน