Chinese e-commerce company JD.com has launched what could be the world’s first consumer goods drone delivery trial.

On Friday, it started delivering packages in rural locations outside of Beijing, as well as those in the provinces of Jiangsu, Shaanxi and Sichuan. The company has launched the trial with either five drones, according to a Bloomberg report, or 30 drones, according to the South China Morning Post.

The drones range in size from the MSC1, described as a short-hop device that resembles a tiny telephone booth attached to rotors, and the larger gasoline powered CT-120. The drones can carry between five and 15 kilos and cover distances as far as 50 kilometers, or 31 miles.

JD.com is China’s second biggest online direct retailer, but unlike its better-known rival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., it does its own deliveries, making the use of drones ideal for the company. The drones themselves are controlled by a proprietary system, connected to its logistics network, that allows the devices to take off automatically and follow a pre-determined route to a village.

Once a customer orders something from JD.com online, the package is sent from the distribution point to drone point where workers hook up the package to an available drone. The drone then delivers the package to a rural “village promoter,” who takes the package directly to the customer, making the drone service more about internal delivery within the company than direct to customers themselves.

Expansion

Although it’s doing only a small trial at this stage, JD.com has received Chinese government approval for an expanded service. The company is not being shy about its ambitions, with plans to have a fleet for more than 100 drone delivery routes in operation by the end of this year.

“This is something we look at as a long-term project. The benefits are tremendous if we get it into the most expensive areas of China,” JD.com Chief Technology Officer Chen Zhang told Bloomberg. “In some places, the villagers place an order and get the delivery in a few weeks. Now maybe it’ll come in a few days.”

Despiite being the first company to use drones to deliver consumer goods, JD.com was beaten for the title of world’s first commercial drone delivery service by Zipline Inc., which started delivering medical supplies in rural Rawanda in October.

Image credit: People’s Daily/ Chinese Government