Meituan launches AI agent to boost food delivery business

Meituan has launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) agent app that aims to boost its food delivery and local services business, as its battle with Alibaba Group Holding for Chinese consumers heats up.

The Xiaomei agent, powered by Meituan’s own LongCat-model, allows users to order meals via voice command and help them book restaurants, according to a company statement on Friday (Sep 12). It can also offer food recommendations, the statement said.

The name of Xiaomei appears to be a combination of the Chinese word for small and the first character of Meituan’s Chinese name, effectively a term of endearment for what’s supposed to be a friendly meal-booking assistant.

Meituan’s shares were up as much as 1.6 per cent in early trading in Hong Kong on Friday. Earlier this week, Meituan said it is testing an agentic tool set to launch within a week.

The competition in China’s US$80 billion-plus food delivery market intensified earlier this year when JD.com decided to enter the field and challenge the longtime duopoly of Meituan and Alibaba’s Ele.me by offering generous discounts to consumers and bonuses for riders.

The three all vowed in August to curb disorderly competition and cease price-based rivalry after they were warned by government agencies.

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But earlier this week, Alibaba committed another one billion yuan (S$180 million) of incentives to drive its local services business, again aiming to win market share from Meituan and JD. BLOOMBERG