The Japanese e-commerce leader Rakuten has entered into a partnership with another giant in the sector, but in China: JD.com. The purpose of this collaboration is to jointly market a delivery service by drones and land robots in Japan.
This is the story of a meeting between two giants of Asian e-commerce. Rakuten and JD.com have come together to give a boost to driverless delivery to reduce the cost of managing the "last mile".
This is the story of a meeting between two giants of Asian e-commerce. Rakuten and JD.com have come together to give a boost to driverless delivery to reduce the cost of managing the "last mile".JD.com already operates an autonomous delivery service in China
For the Japanese company, it is to continue the efforts started in 2016. In fact, it had launched Rakuten Drone , its autonomous delivery service, which is still being tested in several companies . But the firm now intends to take advantage of the more flexible legislation on drones, introduced by the Japanese government last September.
For its part, JD.com will be able to bring its experience in the field. The Chinese company has been operating its driverless delivery service since 2016. Thus, its drones are active in several provinces in China and its small autonomous land vehicles are used in some university campuses and office parks
Rakuten will exploit the gear of JD.com
The merger of the two giants of e-commerce will then give birth to a new delivery solution on the Japanese territory. Rakuten will be able to integrate drones and land robots from JD.com into the services offered to its customers.
In detail, the flying machines designed by the Chinese company are 160 cm long and 60 cm high, weigh five kg and can carry their goods over 16 km. As for autonomous vehicles, their dimensions are as follows: 171 x 75 x 160 cm. They can reach a maximum speed of 15 km / h. Experiments should begin next April.