Tech Municipal drone delivery service terminated after one year

The drone delivery service was launched in January 2023 by a council under the local chamber of commerce to revitalize Katsuura's shopping district and support vulnerable residents who may not be able to make it to the stores themselves. Orders were to be sent in to a depot set up in front of JR Kazusa-Okitsu Station, and staff members would then go to the shops to pick up the items. These would be loaded onto a drone and transported to designated landing points as requested by customers. The project also introduced electric vans at the same time to ship goods over land. The revitalization council entrusted the entire operation to drone delivery company Next Delivery Inc., based in Kosuge, Yamanashi Prefecture. The city decided to provide funding to the council for three years using a national government subsidy for regional revitalization promotion. In the fiscal year 2022 budget, approximately 30.96 million JPY (about USD 206,000), including about 19 million JPY (roughly USD 127,000) for drone-related expenses, was allocated. The budget for fiscal 2023 was 41.2 million yen (approx. USD 275,000), with around 35.6 million yen (about USD 237,000) of that initially earmarked for drone costs.

Click to expand...