DJI's Cargo Transportation, an Underestimated "Super Track"

This year, DJI has been particularly bustling.

The excitement isn't just about the continuous emergence of new businesses, such as launching the floor - cleaning robot brand ROMO and the panoramic imaging brand Osmo 360. Its main consumer - grade drone business has also welcomed new players.

While everyone's attention is on consumer - end products, they've overlooked another core business of DJI - the broader industrial - grade drone solutions. Frankly speaking, the agricultural industrial - grade sector isn't glamorous. It requires venturing through jungles, reaching high plateaus, and crossing mountains and rivers. However, it's these individuals hidden from the public eye who help improve the quality and efficiency in various fields like agriculture, power inspection, and firefighting.

In fact, the growth of China's low - altitude economy has just begun. Although it reached 500 billion yuan in 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology predicts that it will exceed 3 trillion yuan by 2035. Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley forecasts that by 2040, the drone delivery market may exceed 500 billion US dollars. An undervalued multi - billion - dollar track is being brought back into the public eye by DJI's delivery drones.

More importantly, global policies are starting to bring significant benefits. China proposed in the 2023 "Special Action Plan for the Low - Altitude Economy" that the low - altitude economy scale will exceed 1 trillion yuan by 2025. The US FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has approved some drone companies to conduct commercial logistics pilot projects. The European EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency) is promoting legislation for drone logistics, which is expected to be fully implemented between 2025 and 2026.

The explosion of demand and the relaxation of policies are all necessary conditions for a track to boom. More crucially, DJI has accumulated comprehensive capabilities in the consumer - grade drone field, such as flight control systems, supply chains, mass - production advantages, and multi - scenario applications, which are also deeply reflected in the industrial drone field.

DJI's Two Leaps from FC30 to FC100

Xiao Song is a post - 2000 drone pilot. Although he's only 22 years old this year, he has already established his own company. Previously, Xiao Song mainly used DJI's agricultural drones to transport oranges in Zigui, Yichang.

Zigui has nearly 400,000 mu of navel orange planting areas. In the early days, it relied on manual labor, with workers carrying about 120 - jin baskets of oranges on their shoulders. There was a high risk of encountering falling rocks during the descent, posing a great safety hazard. The daily wage was about 200 yuan. The local government also optimized the transportation methods, such as introducing cableways and railcars, but due to the steep terrain, it was difficult to popularize them.

Drone pilots like Xiao Song emerged as a result. They first tried to use DJI's T30 to transport oranges, which could carry 2,000 jin per day, a significant improvement compared to manual labor but still not ideal. DJI also launched the T40, T50, and T60. Xiao Song has been in this business for four years and has witnessed the company's sales grow from selling five drones a year to over 400. The number of drones in the entire county has exceeded 600. "Orange carriers" have transformed into orange - picking farmers, with their daily wages rising from 200 yuan to 300 yuan, and the working environment has become safer.

In June last year, DJI announced its delivery drone, the DJI FlyCart 30 (FC30 for short), which completed the world's first material transportation test at the Everest Base Camp, setting a record for civilian drones with a maximum transportation altitude of 6,000 meters. Tests showed that the FC30 could fly up to 6,191.8 meters in the Everest region and could stably carry a 15 - kilogram load at an altitude of 6,000 meters.

This also caught Xiao Song's attention, but he didn't buy it until the FC100 appeared. According to him, his previous daily income from transporting fruits, bamboo, and wood using agricultural machinery was about 2,000 yuan. After using the FC100, his daily income could reach about 2,600 yuan. This is an improvement in efficiency.

As the sales manager of DJI's delivery drones, Jin Hao felt the difference more acutely from the FC30 to the FC100. He said that the dual - battery load capacity of the FC100 increased from 30 kilograms to 65 kilograms, an increase of over 100%. At the same time, the aircraft's power has a 100% redundancy reserved to deal with unexpected risks. The combination of binocular vision and three millimeter - wave radars also makes the obstacle - avoidance ability stronger. In terms of price, the FC100 has also achieved a 35% cost reduction.

So far, the capabilities of DJI's delivery drone product matrix have been further strengthened, especially in terms of load capacity and flight distance. There's the latest agricultural machinery model, the T100, which meets the needs of the agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery scenarios. The FC100, as a real delivery drone, covers a wider range of scenarios.

"What a good delivery drone should be like is written in every scenario. DJI's delivery drones always focus on comprehensiveness, reliability, affordability, and compliance, and aim to be real problem - solvers," Jin Hao said.

In Ganzi, Sichuan, with an average altitude of over 3,500 meters, the terrain is mainly mountains, canyons, and dense forests, and the transportation conditions are harsh. Especially in power operation and inspection, traditional transportation requires people to trek through mountains for hours, carrying supplies on their backs or using horses to solve the "last - mile" material delivery problem. Specifically, it's either transporting supplies from a ground point to a tower, from a tower to a ground point, or transferring supplies from Tower A to the adjacent Tower B. The most troublesome thing is that if a certain material is suddenly missing after reaching the maintenance site, traditional transportation is almost ineffective.

But now, DJI's delivery drones are taking on the precise transportation tasks of maintenance supplies such as insulators, hardware, and tools. It takes off directly from the roadside at the foot of the mountain and flies straight to the base of the iron tower. The efficiency has been increased by several times or even dozens of times, achieving a leap from "hours - level" to "minutes - level".

In addition to power transportation, DJI's delivery drones have also been applied in postal logistics and emergency rescue in Ganzi.

Chinese Drones: From Leading to Leading Again

At the media event of DJI's delivery drone brand in Ganzi, Wang Yingxun, a doctoral supervisor and former dean of the Unmanned System Research Institute of Beihang University, shared a story.

He said, "I've been working on drones all my life and have witnessed the transformation from toys to industrial tools. The real start of civilian drones was in 2010. Now, low - altitude is defined as below 3,000 meters, and the development of the low - altitude economy behind it definitely depends on drones. Ten years ago, there were only 400 companies with 'drone' in their names. Now, the number has increased tenfold to over 4,000."

"Whether from the data or the trend, the delivery drone industry should be prepared to embrace the upcoming explosive growth. While other countries are still in the technical experiment stage, China has entered the stage of large - scale implementation."

Wang Cheng is the person - in - charge of the Angge Drone Academy in Chengdu, Sichuan, and has been in the industry for 10 years. According to his recollection, the industry started to boom from 2020 to 2021, especially after the state issued the drone management regulations in 2023. The number of trainees in Wang Cheng's training school exceeds 300 per month. Now, the number of people taking drone - related exams in Sichuan is about 5,000 per month, nearly five times the previous number.

Another data that shouldn't be ignored is that although DJI has opened more than 1,300 after - sales service points for plant - protection drones across the country, there's still a shortage of manpower because users have higher requirements for timeliness and convenience. DJI Agriculture trains 6,000 maintenance personnel every year, but there's still a gap. The increase in after - sales service means that the sales of drones at the front - end are booming.

In fact, the improvement in problem - solving ability and the significant cost reduction are the fundamental reasons for the industry's boom. Wang Cheng also took the FC100 as an example. The FC100 is priced lower among similar large - load drones, only about 60% of imported products of the same level. Secondly, the effective operating radius of the FC100 is 20 kilometers, and it can shorten the original 2 - 3 - hour manual transportation time in scenic areas to within 30 minutes.

Outside of China, the current mainstream players in the logistics drone field are mainly Zipline in the United States, which has raised over $1 billion in financing and has a corresponding valuation of $6 billion, but it mainly focuses on medical logistics. Secondly, there's Wing, a subsidiary of Google, which has conducted delivery pilot projects in Australia and the United States, with a cumulative flight of over 300,000 times.

However, in comparison, DJI's delivery drones have stronger comprehensive capabilities in terms of load capacity, charging speed, safety systems, air - suspension systems, parachute protection, and software solutions.

When DJI's delivery drones penetrate into remote mountainous areas and become a new generation of key infrastructure, the global logistics system may be forced to be re - structured. A super track is often easily overlooked at the beginning. After consumer - grade drones, DJI's delivery drones may be the next super story that changes the world.