Jeju Island-Gapado, 'Drone Delivery' Service Starts from the 21st

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 18th that starting from the 21st, it will pilot a drone identification system that allows real-time tracking of drones actually flying over Jeju Island, and will launch a drone delivery service to Gapado, where regular parcel delivery is unavailable.

Gapado, located at the southern tip of Jeju Island, is an area where parcel delivery does not reach. The Ministry of Land selected Gapado as part of the 2023 Drone Demonstration City (Jeju Island) project. Since then, the Ministry has formed a drone delivery commercialization task force together with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Jeju Provincial Government, drone companies, and logistics firms to promote drone delivery services in island regions.

The Ministry of Land has established the world's first drone identification management system that identifies and monitors drones using a network method based on mobile communication networks (LTE). The Ministry of the Interior and Safety assigned an address system including GPS coordinates to Gapado and designated 14 drone delivery points. The Jeju Provincial Government set up two drone delivery hubs: one in Sangmo-ri on the main island and another at the Gapado ferry terminal.

The drone delivery service will begin on the 21st. The first delivery involves consolidating four pre-ordered parcels from Sangmo-ri, Daejeong-eup, to the Gapado ferry terminal drone delivery center, then loading them onto four small drones (each within 3kg) for simultaneous delivery to individual home yards.

The drones will fly automatically along pre-established drone delivery flight paths, drop the parcels into receiving nets at 2 to 3 meters above the home yards, and then return.

Kim Young-guk, Director of Aviation Policy at the Ministry of Land, said, "This Gapado drone delivery project is significant as it applies and verifies key elements of the drone delivery standard model to be presented by the end of the year, such as pre-setting drone flight paths and delivery points, and real-time monitoring of safe flights through the drone identification management system." He added, "We will continue to refine regulations to actively support the expansion and full commercialization of drone delivery, and will actively communicate with local governments and related industries."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.