Arab News Japan

TOKYO: For the first time, an experiment of food delivery by drones in an inhabited area was conducted in Tokyo on Saturday.

The ASL-PF2 drone, which is waterproof and dustproof and can carry a load of 2.75 kg, flew over the Takeshiba district for 700 meters, moving at a speed of 10 meters per second.

The challenge, according to the operations managers, was to serve hot food to customers waiting on terraces and to gain acceptance for the use of drones for commercial use in an urban environment.

The idea of ​​using drones to deliver food was conceptualized as a result of the pandemic.

Customers were able to reserve their seats and enjoy a French beef stew from the Chef’s theater restaurant. 

Three partners joined forces in front of many Japanese journalists for the demonstration: KDDI, which handles the piloting and maintenance of the drones; rail company JR East; and the digital division for the promotion of smart cities of the Tokyo metropolitan government. 

The organizers of this project plan to develop and generalize these services in the district of Shinagawa in southern Tokyo in the near future.