ChinaFood and restaurants2016 – ongoingMeituan
Delivery rider dispatch algorithm
Dispatch algorithm kept cutting delivery times until a press investigation forced Meituan to loosen it
Problem
Meituan, China's largest food delivery platform, competed on speed. Its dispatch system set a delivery deadline for every order, batched orders and planned routes for millions of riders, and riders who arrived late lost pay.
Approach
Meituan built its own real-time dispatch system, which it called the "Super Brain", and tightened time targets as the system learned from rider data. In September 2020 Renwu magazine published an investigation into how these deadlines pushed riders into traffic violations and accidents. Within a day Meituan said it would give riders eight minutes of flexible time per order and more time in bad weather. In September 2021, under regulatory pressure, it published the rules its algorithm used to estimate delivery time and said it would replace a single deadline with a time window.
Results
Takeaway
The algorithm prioritised delivery speed and cost per order, leaving riders to bear risks it did not account for. Public and regulatory pressure prompted looser time targets; the company's own metrics had not prompted change, and targets remained.
Categories
- Size
- Large enterprise
- Industry
- Food and restaurants
- Business function
- Logistics and supply chainHuman resources
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- AI technology
- OptimizationPredictive analytics and ML
- Adoption
- Built in-house
- Evidence
- Press reporting
Sources
Source summaries
In Renwu's investigation, translated by ChinAI, riders and station managers describe how Meituan and Ele.me shortened delivery windows year after year, including a Meituan station where the longest window fell from one hour in 2016 to 38 minutes in 2018. The report links the deadlines and late penalties to traffic violations and rider accidents.
Caixin reports that Meituan apologized and pledged eight extra minutes per delivery, fewer penalties and longer delivery times in hazardous weather. Ele.me instead let customers grant riders five or ten more minutes, a move criticized online for shifting the burden to users. Caixin reported more than 2.95 million registered Meituan riders.
TechNode describes the two platforms' responses to the Renwu report. Meituan said riders would get eight minutes of "flexible" time, up from five, more time in poor weather, and that it was developing smart helmets and pickup cabinets. TechNode reported a standard Meituan delivery limit of 30 minutes.
Sixth Tone reports Meituan's pledge to optimize its algorithm and add an eight-minute buffer so riders can slow down in traffic. It cites the Renwu finding that average delivery time in 2019 was ten minutes shorter than in 2017, and quotes a former courier and an academic who doubt the extra time will change rider behavior.
Reuters reports that Meituan published the rules its algorithm uses to estimate delivery time and said it would adjust them. The company planned to allow for abnormal conditions such as restaurant delays, to show a time window instead of a single estimate, and to invite riders and experts to comment. The move followed regulators' calls to improve conditions for platform workers.
Full details are in the original sources.
