Chinese autonomous logistics firm Neolix has been named among the first batch of companies approved by the Ministry of Transport (MOT) to begin public-road sandbox testing of driverless delivery vehicles in Malaysia. The approval was granted under the country’s National Regulatory Sandbox (NRS) framework for autonomous delivery vehicles, the Beijing-based company announced.
The move is notable not just because it puts driverless vans on Malaysian public roads, but because it plants a second major Chinese autonomous-delivery player on local soil – setting Neolix directly against rival Zelos, whose vehicles have been running with Pos Malaysia since January. Two of China’s largest RoboVan makers are now vying for the same Malaysian last-mile market.
Road trials are expected to begin in the coming weeks in Cyberjaya, Malaysia’s flagship smart city and tech hub just south of Kuala Lumpur. The company says testing will span closed-road, semi-open and public-road environments across Cyberjaya and several other locations, evaluating vehicle performance under real-world urban conditions – think traffic signals, intersections and speed bumps. Testing is set to be carried out in phases throughout the second half of 2026.
Cyberjaya is home to Malaysia’s official Malaysia Autonomous Vehicle (MyAV) testing route, a roughly 7 km public-road testbed developed jointly by the MOT and Futurise under the National Regulatory Sandbox initiative. The route has been operational since around 2019 to 2020, letting companies validate their autonomous systems on live public roads before seeking wider approvals.
Companies in the programme must first clear technical and safety evaluations by the MyAV Evaluation Committee before they’re allowed to operate on public roads. The NRS guideline also doesn’t override existing rules – trials still have to comply with the Road Transport Act 1987 and prevailing road traffic regulations.
Neolix’s Malaysia pilot will be run with a consortium of local and regional partners including Tiong Nam Logistics, Asia Mobiliti (operator of Trek) and MindHub. Together, the group plans to evaluate several use cases – express parcel delivery, campus logistics and on-demand e-commerce fulfilment.
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