DJI has announced Dock 4, its first drone-in-a-box system with automated battery swapping, along with the new Matrice 5TD enterprise drone it’s built around.

The key change is turnaround time. Previous docks had to recharge the drone between flights, which took around 30 minutes. Dock 4 swaps the battery automatically in 25 seconds. DJI says that closes the gap between an alert coming in and a drone arriving overhead to give ground teams a live view. It’s aimed squarely at ‘dock as first responder’ work: public safety, emergency response, overnight security, remote infrastructure inspection and surveying.

The dock works from -40°C to 50°C. It pre-heats batteries in freezing conditions and uses air conditioning to cool them in high heat. Pair it with the DJI O4 Ground Station and the drone can be deployed from a higher position to hold a stable link in built-up or obstructed areas such as high-rises or substations.

The Matrice 5TD carries a range of sensors. There’s an 11x telephoto with a 252mm equivalent focal length, which DJI says can pick out detail from 400m and pin-level defects on power lines from 100m. Alongside it are a 12MP visible camera, an infrared camera with up to 2,560 x 2,048 resolution in UHR mode and 32x zoom, a wide-angle camera and a 3km laser rangefinder. For low light there’s 4K full-colour night vision and an NIR auxiliary light for black-and-white night vision.

Flight time is up to 59 minutes, top speed is 21m/s, and the drone can take off, land and fly in winds up to 12m/s. Obstacle sensing combines three-directional mmWave radar, a rotating LiDAR and six low-light fisheye vision sensors, so it can detect thin obstacles such as power lines even at night. On-board AI recognises 17 types of object in real time, and the drone can carry payloads up to 450g, such as speakers, spotlights or parachutes.

This isn’t one for weekend flyers, but it shows where DJI’s enterprise kit is heading. It’s already in use in the UK: British Transport Police recently opened its seventh remote drone site using the current Dock 3.

DJI Dock 4 and Matrice 5TD specifications

DJI Dock 4 and Matrice 5TD price and availability

DJI hasn’t published pricing. Dock 4 and Matrice 5TD are available through authorised DJI Enterprise dealers, and the new DJI Care Enterprise Plus service covers the dock. Full details are on the DJI Dock 4 product page.