A revolutionary way to test drive and sell cars is coming soon. Alibaba, the Chinese giant of internet commerce, seeks to enter the automotive market using a novel system: a giant vending machine.

The model – using cutting-edge technology – leaves all the cumbersome procedures to a smartphone. The person looking for a car starts by photographing a vehicle and makes an appointment through Alibaba’s Taobao app. Once the system locates the vehicle, it lets the user select some features, such as color, interior and others. In addition, the person must take a selfie and send it along with his or her information and the picture of the car to Alibaba’s servers. This avoids the paperwork normally needed at the time of test driving a car.

Car vending machine. Source: Alibaba

The customer then goes to pick up the car at the unmanned vending machine facility. A panel with facial recognition technology will authorize the test drive of the vehicle. The vehicle can be tested for three days, and once that period is over, the user can purchase the vehicle instantly or return it and choose another car to test drive. No human salesperson will be involved in the transaction.

Alibaba plans to open two stores in January, one in Shanghai and the other in Nanjing.

“The ultimate goal is to make buying a car as simple as a can of Coke,” Alibaba states on its website. The company plans to open “dozens” more outlets across China in 2018.

Alibaba’s vending machine is not the first one in the market. Some months ago Singapore unveiled a similar system geared toward expensive cars such as BMWs, Mercedes and others. Other projects have started in Germany and Nashville.