An unmanned distribution vehicle of Meituan, one of China's major on-demand service platforms, is on display at the first Smart China Expo in Chongqing on Aug 23, 2018. [Photo/IC]

Meituan-Dianping, China's largest on-demand service provider, launched its autonomous delivery service in Xiongan New Area on Friday to accelerate the application and commercialization of unmanned technologies.

The move came as major internet giants including Baidu Inc and JD have all beefed up efforts in developing autonomous technologies to back up their main businesses and gain a lead on competitors.

"We will finish the autonomous delivery not only between buildings but also within buildings by the end of this year in some of the areas in Xiongan," said Xia Huaxia, head of autonomous delivery at Meituan.

By then, delivery cars will be able to go up and down the buildings through elevators, without anyone helping them to push the elevator button, he said.

Xia also noted that Meituan will start autonomous delivery operations in several cities across the country by the end of 2019.

Meituan, a group buying and dining platform with 320 million active users and more than 4 million merchants, has started trial operations for autonomous delivery in a shopping mall, office building and university campus.

The Beijing-based company plans to go public in Hong Kong and has already attracted big-name early investors, including Tencent Holdings Ltd.