Toyota Tsusho Conducts Kyushu's First Delivery Demonstration of Prescription Drugs Using Level 4 Flight of Drones
- other
2025-02-10
1. Demonstration Background and Purpose
Since May 2022, Sora-iina has been delivering medical and pharmaceutical supplies and other items to secondary remote islands in Goto City that cannot be directly accessed from the mainland using level 3 flight (non-visual flight over unmanned areas) with fixed-wing drones.* In this method, packages are dropped by parachute into a pre-determined unmanned area, such as a port, and the customer must go to the designated location to pick up the package.
In the future, level 4 flight will be essential to achieving direct delivery to manned areas such as the doorsteps of homes and medical institutions. However, under the current system, it is necessary to obtain permission and approval from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism for pre-specified flight routes, which means that the number of application routes will increase as the number of delivery destinations increases, presenting a challenge for social implementation.
The purposes of this demonstration are to identify technical and operational issues for level 4 flight to enable flight route applications by area, as well as to propose future regulatory and systemic reforms.
2. Demonstration Overview
In this demonstration, using a multicopter-type drone capable of vertical takeoff and landing, we conducted a demonstration of the delivery of prescription drugs from a clinic to the doorstep of a mobile clinic promptly after medical treatment using level 4 flight. In the future, we will verify the effects and issues of this demonstration, organize the requirements for achieving flight route applications by area, and through discussions with the government, make proposals for future regulatory and systemic reforms.
Through the Sora-iina business, Toyota Tsusho aims for the social implementation of an on-demand delivery system to the doorsteps of destinations using level 4 flight of drones.



Functions of Each Company in This Demonstration
Toyota Tsusho
|
Coordination of the entire survey project, discussion of regulatory and systemic reforms |
---|---|
Sora-iina
|
Demonstration site preparation, assistance with delivery operations |
ACSL
|
Provision of level 4 flight aircrafts, level 4 flight operations |
Nagasaki Prefecture
|
Discussion of regulatory and systemic reform proposals |
Goto City
|
Coordination and cooperation with mobile clinics, Tamanoura Clinic operation |
Nagasaki University
|
Assistance with discussions between medical professionals, verification of effectiveness of prescription drug delivery |
MONET Technologies
|
Development, coordination, and cooperation of mobile clinic vehicles |
Aircraft Used

Aircraft name
|
PF2-CAT3 |
---|---|
Dimensions
|
1.174 mm×1,068 mm×601 mm (including propeller) |
Weight
|
8.8 kg |
Maximum flight time
|
17.5 minutes (at maximum takeoff weight) |
Maximum takeoff weight
|
9.8 kg |
Loading capacity
|
Up to 1.0 kg |
Maximum flight speed
|
Horizontal: 10 m/s(36 km/h); ascent: 3 m/s; descent: 2 m/s |
* For details, please refer to our press release announced on April 21, 2022: “Toyota Tsusho Launches Drone Delivery of Medical and Pharmaceutical Supplies Business in Nagasaki Prefecture's Goto Islands”
(https://www.toyota-tsusho.com/english/press/detail/220421_005908.html)
The information in this release is current as of the date of announcement.
Please note that information may change after the date of announcement. Thank you in advance for your understanding.