DJI RC Track – Leaked But Cancelled Before The Launch (Part 1)

With the DJI Air 3S there was supposed to be a long awaited DJI RC Track coming out. But on launch day it wasn’t there. What happened? Why did DJI cancel it and when will it return? In a series of three articles I’ll tell you everything you want to know about the DJI RC Track.

• What is the DJI RC Track and why should it exist? (Part 1)
• Why was the DJI RC track cancelled when it was promised with the DJI Air 3S? (Part 2)
• When will the DJI RC Track launch and what are the exact specifications? (Part 3)

DJI RC Track – In the beginning

Its was October 8th, when the first picture of the DJI RC Track leaked online. It was amidst all the leaks we had seen from the DJI Air3S that was planned to launch on October 15th. We learned that it was some new type of DJI ‘GPS beacon’, that will allow to track an object when it would lose visual sight of the tracked object.

With the RC track beacon the drone will now effortlessly continue to fly and keep the perfect distance to the object until that object will return into shot and it will lock back on. This will all be possible without AI or smart tracking. Providing a much safer way to track objects in the dark or with al lot of visual obstacles near the road.

Five new features with the DJI RC Track

There are five features that were originally planned for the beacon of DJI;

First off, it would allow the DJI Air3S to track an obscured object during tracking. The cyclist or vehicle would be tracked during an obstruction and relocated when back in sight of the drone. Even with AI and smart tracking features of the DJI Flip and DJI Neo, accurate tracking is still a much-wanted feature for everybody who wants their drone not to crash due to some tracking error.

Very Dynamic home point

The second feature of the DJI RC track would be the fact it creates a perfect Dynamic Home Point for your drone. As we learned with the last DJI Fly App update, a safe place for your drone to return to isn’t always the place where you originally took off from. With the latest update DJI finally created a new way to quickly update or set the homepoint on a map. Next to you for example or on a location you want it to land safely.

With the DJI RC track connected to your drone, your DJI Fly app will automatically update its home point continuously to wherever you are in the world. If the drone looses you or you give it the prompt to RTH (Return to home) the drone will automatically fly to the DJI RC track and hover above it.

Look mom, I’m flying without hands.

Another interesting feature of the DJI RC Track is that it will be the only remote you’ll need to fly your DJI AIR 3S or Mavic 4 to track you in the wild. With the RC track you can take off, enable tracking, switch angles and return the drone, all without touching a screen once.

You just simple press the buttons on the new remote, set the distance, height and direction and you are clear to go. Feedback of your settings will be given by the same voice we now know from the DJI Neo and DJI Flip drones.

DJI Osmo Action ready?

Coming to the fourth feature: The DJI RC Track clips to the smart clip system of the DJI Osmo series. This is the system that became universal For DJI since the DJI Action 2. The DJI Track will easily clip to the the DJI Osmo Action suction cup, handlebar mount, and will introduce an all new DJI RC track wrist strap that will come in the box.

Live feed on the Fly app

Although pretty much all new remotes are a step better than previous ones. And while we are getting used to drones like the DJI Neo and DJI flip to follow us autonomously, you might want a view of what is happing with your more expensive drone like the DJI Air 3S or DJI Mavic 4.

Luckily the fifth and last feature of the DJI RC track is that you can still connect to your drone via WiFi to the DJI Fly App and adjust composition and monitor everything while the RC Track is doing its work for you.

So what happened? Why was it cancelled?

Although DJI made efforts to launch this product with the DJI AIR 3S, informed many with specifications and even placed the product in the hands of some. The product got cancelled or as you will, postponed to a next launch.

Why it was cancelled and a more in-depth look on the specifications I will be sharing and writing them in the next couple of days in my next articles on the DJI leaks here on DroneXL. I would like to thank you for your time and my sources for the trustworthy information through the years. It’s a good thing DJI never offered me a NDA. Cheers! Jasper