Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten and Yamato Transport company will start the trial of a home delivery service with drones in April, in line with tests conducted by Amazon last year in Miami.
The test will begin in the city of Chiba, east of Tokyo, where the Japanese government has approved the operation of these devices, whose use is restricted by legislation, economic daily Nikkei reported Wednesday.
Current Japanese aviation law prohibits flying drones over populous residential areas without government permission (for example, in Tokyo and areas close to airports), and requires them to maintain a certain distance from people and buildings during the flight.
The drones on trial will fly over uninhabited land to analyze the impact of environmental factors, and will also conduct package collection tests in logistics centers.
Companies expect the service to start operating by 2020, reported Nikkei.
Japan had announced last November its plans to implement a system of distributing medicines via unmanned aircraft to isolated areas with scant medical facilities by 2018.
For both the initiatives, however, the Japanese government needs to adopt new legislation to regulate the routes of drones (something not covered at present) and allow transportation of goods.
Japan did not have specific legislation on drones till last September, when a man flew a drone with radioactive material up to the roof of the residence of Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe.
Despite the restrictions, however, till Feb. 8, the Japanese Ministry of Transportation authorized 1,065 requests to fly drones.
