KDDI and Wing Plan Drone Deliveries in Japan in 2027

Japanese telecoms group KDDI and Wing, the drone delivery company owned by Google’s parent Alphabet, plan to start flying food and daily goods to homes in parts of Japan in 2027. KDDI, its drone arm KDDI SmartDrone and Wing Aviation signed a strategic partnership on 27 October, according to a joint release on KDDI’s newsroom and a post on Wing’s blog.

The first deliveries will include groceries and household goods, among them products from the Lawson convenience store chain, KDDI says. The companies then want to add more goods and areas, working with local governments and regional partners. No launch areas, prices or aircraft details were given.

What each side brings

Wing will supply its self-flying drones, its flight management system and its automated ground equipment. KDDI and KDDI SmartDrone bring their mobile network, which they already use to help drones fly safely beyond the pilot’s line of sight, along with their experience of Japan’s drone rules and of working with local councils.

KDDI SmartDrone controls drones over 4G mobile signals, runs drone schools at more than 20 sites in Japan and has been placing drone ports around the country. In September it used remotely flown drones to survey heavy-rain damage in Ishikawa, the release says. The group has also been busy on robots: on the same day, it launched ELYZA Robotics to build AI for working robots.

The goods on the list are everyday ones: daily necessities, food, over-the-counter medicines and small retail items. The companies also say drones could help keep deliveries going during disasters.

The problems KDDI wants drones to solve

KDDI sets out three. The first is food access. It cites an estimate by Japan’s farm ministry that about 9.04 million people have difficulty buying food, as shops close and the population ages. Many older people also face the risks of driving, or lack transport.

The second is what the release calls “time poverty” among households where both parents work. The third is the strain on delivery firms. Small, frequent orders and failed deliveries are rising, while the driver shortage known as the “2024 logistics problem” grows. Wing’s post adds that a shrinking working-age population makes fast home delivery more valuable and drivers harder to find.

Wing gives its own credentials. Formed in a Google lab in 2012, it says it has made more than a million home deliveries as of October 2026, and now makes thousands a day across five US markets, usually within 30 minutes of an order. In Charlotte, it recently started Walmart deliveries from seven stores.

Why Japan’s rules, not the drones, set the pace

The two announcements differ slightly on timing. KDDI says it aims to begin deliveries in some areas during 2027. Wing says the shared goal is to launch “in select areas in Japan by the end of 2027”, and to spread across Japan “in the coming years”. Both are targets rather than commitments.

The more important line in Wing’s post is that Japan is still developing “a safe, scalable regulatory framework for drone delivery”. That is why KDDI matters here. Wing’s US growth has rested on federal aviation approvals and local car park permits, and even there it meets opposition: 16 Massachusetts lawmakers have asked for a pause on drone delivery certificates. KDDI’s offer fills that gap in Japan: a mobile network already used for flights beyond the pilot’s sight, and years of dealing with the rules and with local councils.

The Lawson detail also counts. KDDI lists Lawson among its own consumer businesses, and a chain of local stores could give drones somewhere to fly from. In rural towns where the nearest supermarket has closed, a shop-to-door drone could do what a bus timetable cannot.

Wing has already tested sharing airspace with other operators abroad. In northwest England it took part in a trial of a federated drone traffic system over Chorley, and a London children’s hospital now uses drones from Matternet and Apian for pathology samples. Japan’s test will be whether its rules let similar services grow beyond pilot towns. The first named launch area, expected some time in 2027, will show where the partners think the need is greatest.