East Japan Railway : KDDI,JAL,JR-EAST,Weathernews,and TerraDrone to Participate in Drone logistics business development project of Tokyo

Joint Press Release

KDDI,JAL,JR-EAST,Weathernews,and TerraDrone to Participate in

Drone logistics business development project of Tokyo

Demonstrating the Ability to Provide Ethical Pharmaceuticals and Food Delivery Services via Drones

TOKYO, August 31,2020－ A consortium of companies, consisting of KDDI Corporation (KDDI), Japan Airlines (JAL), East Japan Railway (JRE), Weathernews Inc. (WNI), Terra Drone Corporation (Terra Drone) are adopted a joint plan to demonstrate the ability to provide drone-led delivery services to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government (contractor: Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc.). In this project, looking ahead to logistics transformation of the post-corona, the consortium will study the feasibility of delivering pharmaceuticals to hospitals, as well as delivering food and security service to facilities located near stations in FY2020. Further, the consortium will verify operational issues and review the ability to generate a profitable business through these demonstrations in FY2021.

In recent years, the development of technology for drone-led services and changes in the environment has steadily progressed to a level to realize new business opportunities. Japanese government has also set plans to establish a drone-led delivery business model within the next two years.

【Outline of the Project】

The consortium will study the business model of drone logistics services to deliver pharmaceuticals and conduct field demonstrations to verify the profitability of such business models.

Due to the lack of delivery personnel and the impact of the global pandemic, the necessity to respond to changes in the logistics industry has become real and the use of drones may help realize automatic, contactless delivery services.

To build a drone delivery platform, the consortium will utilize smart drone platform via mobile communications to realize safe and secure flight operations in urban areas.

1. Pharmaceutical Drone Delivery
2. • Demonstrate the delivery of ethical pharmaceuticals from a distribution base of Mediceo Corporation: prescription pharmaceutical wholesale company, to St. Luke's International Hospital during an emergency situation, providing an alternative option to existing delivery services.
     ・Contribute to improving medical technology and public health through instant and contactless transportation.
3. Food delivery and Security Services

・Demonstrate delivery service from restaurants to offices in close proximity of the drone station. ・Demonstrate the use of drones to patrol facilities.

【Role of the members of the consortium】

KDDI Corporation	Project Leader, Provide Smart Drone Platform utilizing 4G LTE.
Japan Airlines	Safety Management of flights, Business development and feasibility
	assessment of pharmaceutical delivery
East Japan Railway	Land Owner around stations for the demonstration
	Business development and feasibility assessment of Food delivery and
	Security
Weathernews Inc.	Provision of high-precision weather forecast information and weather
	observation equipment, cooperation with manned helicopters
Terra Drone Corporation	Provision of air traffic control platform including cooperation of manned
	air traffic control

【Flight Area】

Bay Area and around stations in Metropolitan Tokyo

【Duration】

From August 2020 to March 2022

(*) Support from Tokyo in FY2021 will be fixed when the budget for the year is approved by the Metropolitan assembly.

【External Supporters】

Mediceo Corporation: Support and advise pharmaceutical delivery and feasibility assessment

St. Luke International Hospital: Support pharmaceutical delivery and feasibility assessment.