China’s Alibaba to open a “smart” gas station next year

Online retailing powerhouse Alibaba plans to build “smart” gas stations after the success of its convenience stores.

Alibaba will build an unstaffed gas station in Hangzhou by the end of the month where a “robotic arm” will fuel vehicles, reports Caixin Global.

The station will include a convenience store with no employees which allows customers to enter by scanning a QR code at the door, select their products and automatically pay at the checkout. This is a model that has already been tested by Alibaba this summer.

In Alibaba’s gas station, set for 2018, a system will automatically identify information about the driver and their car such as identity of the driver, car model and preferred fuel product.