Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Sora-iina, a wholly-owned subsidiary of general trading company Toyota Tsusho, has been expanding its drone delivery program for medical goods in the Goto Islands, Nagasaki Prefecture.
The genesis of the project goes back to June 2018 when Toyota Tsusho made an investment in California-based drone startup Zipline and began collaborating with the firm’s drone delivery operations in Africa.
In March 2021, the two firms agreed to bring their partnership to Japan, promising to focus on delivery of medical supplies to underserved rural areas of the country. The press release noted that it was Zipline’s “first-ever strategic operational partnership, and represents a new model for scaling its on-demand delivery service.”
Practical operations launched this April under the auspices of the subsidiary, Sora-iina, which had been created for the purpose of handling the drone delivery initiative. The inaugural president and CEO is Michelle Mika Matsuyama. The company’s base is located in Goto city, Fukue Island, Nagasaki Prefecture.
As of the beginning of this month, over 150 drone flights have been conducted, with the main route running between Fukue Island and Naru Island. However, as of June 10, a new route between Fukue Island and the most distant of the main Goto Islands, Nakadori Island, also began to be tested–a roundtrip of about 140 kilometers.
Other routes to smaller, even less populated islands are also planned.
The Zipline drones have fixed wings with a wingspan of about 3.3 meters. They are launched into the air via a special catapult. When they return to base a hook on the tail of the aircraft snags onto an outstretched wire, leaving it suspended motionless in the air until the recovery team attends to it.
The payload, which can have a weight of up to 1.8 kilograms, is carried inside the aircraft during the flight, protecting it from the elements. These drones are relatively durable, even in conditions of moderate winds and rain. They fly at a maximum speed of about 130 kilometers per hour. Cellular networks and installed SD cards provide for automated navigation. Delivery is accomplished by the opening of a hatch at a predetermined height, sending the payload dropping to the ground with a small parachute to cushion the impact.
Sora-iina is negotiating with government regulators to allow them to conduct several flights simultaneously. The firm aims to achieve the operational rate of about twenty to thirty flights per day.
When the Japanese government allows Level 4 drone flights–something which is expected to occur later this year–current routes can be shortened, since the drones will then be permitted to fly more directly to their objectives over populated areas.
Sora-iina hopes that its drone delivery service will strengthen overall logistics in the Goto Islands. In particular, since medicine deliveries currently rely on ships with fixed schedules, drones may be able to make emergency deliveries to local hospitals and other facilities on much shorter notice.
It’s also possible that Sora-iina might face a competitor. In March 2021 All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Germany-based drone firm Wingcopter conducted medicine delivery tests in the same area, running flights between Fukue Island and Hisaka Island.
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