NTT East will embark on a drone business.
While the government is supporting the domestic production of drones from the viewpoint of security, the policy is to develop and produce domestically and develop services for agriculture.
NTT East will enter the drone business by establishing a new company jointly with two companies including IT companies.
In addition to developing and producing drones for spraying pesticides and sowing seeds in Japan, our policy is to develop services nationwide, such as analyzing crop images taken from the sky with AI = artificial intelligence and using them for pest control.
Chinese companies have a high share of drones worldwide, and the government is supporting domestic production from the perspective of security.
In the field of agriculture, due to a serious shortage of farmers, the area of agricultural land where pesticides were sown using drones increased to 65,000 hectares in FY2019, more than double the previous year, and demand will continue to grow. Is expected.
Hiroshi Tanabe, president of a new company established by NTT East and others, said, "We recognize that overseas manufacturers are strong, but the market is still growing. We can fight by accumulating and utilizing data."
Active development of domestic drones
Regarding drones, it is said that DJI, a Chinese manufacturer, has a strength of low prices and occupies 70% of the world's consumer market share.
In response, the government passed a law last year to support domestic development and capital investment, saying that it is necessary to train domestic manufacturers from the perspective of security.
Against this backdrop, Sony announced this month a new drone for photography equipped with AI = artificial intelligence and many sensors, and plans to produce it domestically in the future.
In addition, venture company Aerosense plans to announce a drone with new functions for surveying soon, and the development of domestic drones is active.