Wuxi First City to Roll Out ‘Red Light Stop Timer’ Citywide
The eastern Chinese city of Wuxi in Jiangsu Province has become the first city in the country to implement the “Red Light Stop Timer” (红灯停表) function citywide, covering all 4,253 signalized intersections. The system, jointly announced by the city’s public security traffic management department and delivery platform Meituan on August 17, automatically pauses delivery time clocks when riders wait at red lights, easing the time pressure that has long pushed delivery riders toward dangerous riding behaviors.
A Technological Solution to a Persistent Problem
Delivery riders in China face a persistent dilemma: obey traffic laws and risk missing tight delivery deadlines, or run red lights and risk accidents and penalties. The “Red Light Stop Timer” addresses this by leveraging Wuxi’s “Vehicle-Road-Cloud Integration” (车路云一体化) infrastructure—the city is one of China’s first batch of pilot cities for this technology and the country’s first national-level vehicle networking pilot zone. The system connects real-time traffic signal data with Meituan’s delivery platform, enabling intelligent identification of riders waiting at red lights with recognition latency controlled within one second.
According to The Paper, when a rider stops at a red light, the system pauses delivery timing; when the light turns green, timing resumes. For riders carrying multiple orders, the waiting time is proportionally allocated across all orders to extend the latest delivery deadline. Upon order completion, a popup displays the total seconds waited at red lights.
Rider Relief and Safety Benefits
The impact on riders has been immediate and tangible. In a field test conducted by CCTV Finance in Beijing’s Wangjing area, a rider who waited at red lights twice on a two-kilometer route received 2 minutes and 14 seconds of compensated time. “For us, even 30 extra seconds makes a difference,” said Li Xincang, a 12-year delivery veteran. “With that extra time, I don’t need to run when entering a residential complex, and I don’t need to take two steps at a time when climbing to the 6th floor.”
Fellow rider Cheng Baojun echoed the sentiment: “Now when waiting at red lights, I feel much more relaxed.” The system also sends riders a notification through Meituan’s AI safety assistant: “Red light, stop. Recording wait time. Delivery time will be extended when the order is completed.”
A National Movement Takes Shape
The Wuxi rollout follows a rapid national push to reform delivery platform algorithms. Suzhou was the first city to launch the feature on July 31, initially covering approximately 1,100 intersections in Gusu District and Suzhou Industrial Park, as IT Home reported. Beijing launched its first official version on August 13, with pilot testing in Chaoyang District, Tongzhou District, and the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area. Meituan, Taobao Shanguo, and JD Delivery will implement the feature in Beijing as part of the “Breaking the Rat Race for Good” (破卷向善) initiative, according to Guancha.cn.
More than 20 cities including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Nanchang, and Lanzhou are evaluating implementation, with Meituan planning to cover over 1 million riders by the end of 2026, as reported by IT Home.
Broader Algorithm Reforms
The “Red Light Stop Timer” is part of a wider set of algorithm optimization measures agreed upon at the second “Breaking the Rat Race for Good” consultative dialogue in Beijing. These include calculating delivery time for electric bicycle riders at an average speed not exceeding 15 km/h, increasing time compensation for severe weather and complex road conditions, and ensuring that late delivery due to slow restaurant preparation no longer affects rider service scores.
Peking University Professor Ma Liang of the School of Government noted that these measures “push the food delivery algorithm back to a normal state, rather than requiring riders to meet pre-set standards. This gives riders better safety protection and improves traffic order.”
What’s Next
Wuxi’s traffic management department plans to extend the feature to other delivery platforms once Meituan’s pilot runs stably, moving toward standardized operation across the city’s entire instant delivery industry. The department will also work with platforms to dynamically configure “green light guarantees” for high-frequency routes during peak delivery hours and pilot “code management” for rider traffic safety, with dynamic ledger control and traceability education for accident-prone riders.
As more cities evaluate and adopt the technology, the “Red Light Stop Timer” represents a significant step toward reconciling delivery efficiency with road safety—a shift from punishing riders for obeying the law to building systems that reward compliance.