BEIJING - China's Ministry of Transport (MOT) has urged efforts to expedite the development of standards for road and air collaboration in low-altitude transport and artificial intelligence (AI), highlighting these areas as key priorities for 2025.

The directive was issued during a meeting on Friday, where a task assignment plan to improve transport industry standards between 2024 and 2027 was approved, according to a statement by the MOT.

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Measures must be taken to promote intelligent transport as part of the national pilot program for service standardization, aiming to make the country's transport industry smarter and more digitalized, according to the ministry.

In recent years, China has actively advanced low-altitude transport and logistics, with drones playing a key role in short-haul, cross-region and city deliveries.

Data from the MOT shows that approximately 2.7 million parcels were delivered by drones across the country in 2024.

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According to the China low-altitude logistics development report, released by the Linksum Institute of Digital Industry, the industry's market size expanded from 27.18 billion yuan (about $3.8 billion) in 2020 to 58.18 billion yuan in 2023. Projections indicate it could reach 120 to 150 billion yuan by 2025.