Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has issued a call for proposals for new transportation research projects, including the development of technology to promote the use of drones.
The technological research and development proposals span six core themes and are required to meet the needs of government agencies and other organisations. The total research budget is up to 60 million yen. The first year research budget for projects adopted in FY2025 is up to 10 million yen.
Theme Five [pdf in Japanese] relates to technology to expand drone use. Specifically, MLIT is looking for solutions to enable beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) or Level 3.5 operations in radio ‘dead zones’ where it is difficult to use mobile phone networks. These areas, often in hilly and mountainous terrain, would benefit from drone services.
The system proposed must be as versatile as possible for drones used in various fields, such as drone delivery, patrol inspection of infrastructure facilities, high-precision understanding of resource volume and topography of forests, etc., and the transport of seedlings.
The call is part of the Transportation Technology Development Promotion System, a competitive funding system that supports the discovery and implementation of innovative technologies that contribute to safe, secure and comfortable transportation, and the reduction of environmental impact. A new framework has been established for this call with the aim of reducing mismatches with procurement parties at the social implementation stage and making it easier to realise early social implementation.
An information session will be held on June 10, 2025. Proposals are invited by June 30, 2025, 5:00 p.m. The research period runs up to March 2028.
For more information
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism – Japan
