DJI Dock 3 & Matrice 4TD: FULLY Autonomous Drone System!

Autonomous drone operations have always sounded like the future—until now. With DJI’s brand-new DJI Dock 3 and the next-generation Matrice 4TD series, we’re witnessing a complete shift in how drones are deployed, controlled, and managed in the real world to save precious time, streamline operations, and most importantly, save lives.

What is up, guys? Welcome back to another video. Today I’m super excited to talk about the DJI Dock 3 and the Matrice 4TD. Special thanks to CopterBG, DJI’s official distributor in Bulgaria, which let me check out the Dock 3 together with the Matrice 4TD.

DJI Dock 3 overview

Let’s begin with the Dock 3 and clarify what it is. Essentially, it’s a fully automated base station for drones—a rugged, weatherproof charging hub designed to sit anywhere from city rooftops to the back of a pickup truck, capable of housing, charging, and deploying the drone entirely on its own. Rated for tough environments, the Dock 3 can operate in a wide range of temperatures from -30° C to +50° C, and it’s built to resist dust, rain, and snow with an IP56 rating. The internal climate control system keeps the drone’s batteries and electronics at optimal temperatures at all times. Additionally, the Dock 3’s slanted design allows water to run off easily, helping prevent ice buildup on its surface.

For what you’d normally expect from such a powerful station, it’s surprisingly compact, so it can be placed in the bed of a pickup truck for maximum deployment flexibility and rapid emergency response. The Dock 3 constantly monitors the health of both itself and the drone—battery status, motor performance, and firmware—and it can flag potential issues before they become problems. Opening the hatch, spinning up the props, and launching into the sky is fully automated; it takes around 10 seconds for the drone to take off and roughly a minute to reach 100 m of altitude.

Connectivity and range options

If better image transmission is needed in an offline environment, there are two ways to improve it. The first is airborne relay, which uses one M3-series drone acting as a bridge for a second drone, effectively extending range. The second involves using the DJI D-RTK 3, an antenna that can be placed on higher ground or farther away. This is ideal in mountainous regions or dense urban environments where signal interference is common.

Matrice 4TD series

The Dock 3 isn’t tied to a single aircraft; it works with the Matrice 4T and Matrice 4TD. This new series builds on the Matrice 30’s success and pushes further with enhanced payload options, an IP55 rating, 12 m/s wind resistance, low-noise propellers, longer flight times, and next-level AI-assisted operations. Flight time can stretch up to 50 minutes depending on payload, giving operators more airtime per mission. Flight performance is robust with improved wind resistance and precise positioning—crucial for autonomous dock landings.

From my testing, I’ve been flying the Matrice 4TD, a model designed for versatility. The TD variant includes a multi-sensor camera system: a high-resolution visual camera, a telephoto lens for long-range inspections, and a high-performance thermal camera. The drone itself operates very similarly to the Matrice 4T, a drone I’ve already reviewed on my channel. However, one of the key differences is the IP55 rating, meaning it can be flown even in severe weather conditions. You can see small drainage slots on the body that help water run off. In addition, because this drone is made to be used with the Dock 3 and to keep all internals covered for protection, it is not foldable.

Control and software

There are two ways to operate the drone: via the DJI RC Plus 2 enterprise remote controller or through the Dock 3 using DJI FlightHub 2. FlightHub 2 gives full control for setting up missions, executing flight paths, or even flying manually with mouse and keyboard while using all of the drone’s intelligent features. Speaking of intelligent features, the Matrice 4T/4TD series offers tools like vehicle and vessel detection and tracking, patrolling a designated area with notifications in case of an incident, forest fire detection, and more. Another powerful feature is the rangefinder, which, combined with the drone’s zoom, provides precise distance to a point on the screen in real time—even for moving objects like vehicles—especially important in public safety scenarios.

Inspecting a building or construction site is straightforward. With the available zoom, it’s easy to see details from a couple of hundred meters away. Even without flying directly over an area, operators can zoom in to inspect multiple points of interest clearly.

Thermal capabilities

Now, let’s talk thermal—one of the most impressive aspects of the Matrice 4TD. It’s equipped with a radiometric thermal sensor capable of detecting precise temperature differences, making it ideal for search and rescue, power line and solar panel inspections, firefighting, and wildlife monitoring. The thermal resolution is sharp enough to distinguish subtle heat variations, and with multiple color palettes available, operators can tailor the view to match their mission. Paired with AI-assisted subject recognition, the drone can help automatically spot humans or vehicles across large search areas.

Here’s the FlightHub 2 interface, which allows full control over the drone and mission planning even before takeoff. It’s also possible to take full manual control with mouse and keyboard, which makes for a unique experience—being able to fly the drone without being physically next to it. It was quite different and this was my first time trying it.

Here’s the pre-flight check when taking off from the Dock 3 with the Matrice 4TD. A camera shows the surroundings and the Dock 3 opening sequence: the drone sits inside, takes off, and then the dock closes once the drone is airborne. All telemetry and essential data—battery level, signal, and more—are visible at a glance from the computer.

From there, all intelligent flight modes are accessible along with the different zoom capabilities of each camera. Operators can use the rangefinder, detect people, cars, or vessels, start tracking, and do everything possible with the remote controller—only now within a more in-depth software environment that surfaces even more data while flying.

Here’s a look at the Virtual Cockpit in FlightHub 2 during an automatic Dock 3 landing with the Matrice 4TD. It displays wind speed, altitude, precise positioning, battery level, satellites, latency, and camera settings. It also shows a camera feed from the dock itself, providing a ground perspective, plus the drone’s downward positioning sensor and the drone camera view. With multiple perspectives, it’s easier to identify and respond to any potential issues quickly.

A compelling use case for the Matrice 4TD is detecting anomalies in solar panels with the thermal camera. In this scenario, there are many buildings with solar arrays, and one malfunctioning panel is immediately apparent as a bright hot spot compared to the others. Using the thermal camera, a faulty panel can be identified within seconds so action can be taken quickly to avoid lost time and resources. Multiple thermal palettes help emphasize differences, and a spot temperature tool can show the current temperature of a specific element on screen. In this case, one panel’s surface temperature clearly differs from the rest, indicating an issue. With zoom, it’s also easy to quickly punch in on areas of interest—like a statue approximately 6 km away, which remains visible even near the end of the zoom range. That kind of reach is a game changer when focusing on distant elements while maintaining a usable image.

Another way to use FlightHub 2 is to set up a custom flight route. This feature automates a flight path the drone can repeatedly follow, with custom camera parameters and actions. For example, it can always focus on a specific object, take a photo, then move to the next waypoint and start recording video. This makes it easy to automate patrol missions across selected waypoints and receive notifications if anomalies are detected.

Real-world impact

So, how does this tech apply in real-world situations? The Dock 3 and Matrice 4T/4TD combo unlocks truly autonomous aerial operations. Imagine a drone stationed along a remote pipeline, ready to inspect after an alert, or a fleet of docks positioned across a city to respond instantly to emergency calls or conduct nightly patrols. This enables public safety, infrastructure inspection, environmental monitoring, security, and surveillance—just to name a few.

After using the Matrice 4TD with the Dock 3, one thing is clear: this isn’t just hardware. It’s a system designed to save time, reduce human risk, and provide instant access to the sky when it’s needed most—all autonomously. The automation works flawlessly, the build quality is premium, and the data collected by the onboard sensors is incredibly valuable. With the Dock 3 and the Matrice 4T/4TD series, DJI is redefining what’s possible with drones. Whether it’s the thermal powerhouse of the 4TD or other specialized payloads in the lineup, having a drone ready to launch anytime, anywhere is a game changer.

And there you have it—the DJI Dock 3 together with the Matrice 4TD. I really hope you enjoyed today’s video. If you did, you already know what to do. Drop a like, subscribe for more videos like this one, and never stop flying. For more content, check out my profile and my channel. Ciao.