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Drone Tracking Tesla

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Very cool!

Can the drone look forward of the car, let's say several miles to tell you traffic conditions? Or does it have to look at the object it is tracking? How fast can it track, can it follow the car at speed?

I've always thought it would be great to have a drone that can track my car and give me instant video feed of traffic ahead, so when I get stuck in a commute I can decide whether to exit or just stick it out. Obviously Tesla gives you real time traffic conditions on the google map.

Thanks for the video!
 
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Looks great, didn't notice any stuttering, it was very smooth and its proper 4k. :)

Thank you kindly!

Very cool!

Can the drone look forward of the car, let's say several miles to tell you traffic conditions? Or does it have to look at the object it is tracking? How fast can it track, can it follow the car at speed?

I've always thought it would be great to have a drone that can track my car and give me instant video feed of traffic ahead, so when I get stuck in a commute I can decide whether to exit or just stick it out. Obviously Tesla gives you real time traffic conditions on the google map.

Thanks for the video!

No, it currently cannot look forward for this purpose. It basically keeps the camera's focus on the object and tends to want to follow the object (I'm guessing due to the collision sensors only being in the front as of now; this might change in the future with more sensors all around). I believe in this mode the max speed is 35.8mph (57.6kph). I really like your ideas and think it's possible to do in the future.

Amazing video and very cool feature that active track. Do you need a license to fly this in the US? Do you need to check in with local air traffic controllers?

In the US, to fly a drone under 55 lbs recreationally you just need to fill out a simple registration with the FAA. If you fly commercially, then you also need a pilot's license (as of this time, I think there is some work to be done here because that's overkill.) You cannot fly within 5 miles of an airport and need ATC clearance if you do; otherwise, outside of 5 miles, you can fly up to 400 ft high.
 
I've always thought it would be great to have a drone that can track my car and give me instant video feed of traffic ahead, so when I get stuck in a commute I can decide whether to exit or just stick it out. Obviously Tesla gives you real time traffic conditions on the google map.

Maybe something like you'd like the Renault KWID concept?
 
This was my second flight with the DJI Phantom 4 and I was testing out some of the features. If you'd like to go to the part where it tracks the Tesla, skip to 4:32. It was recorded in 4K.


Great drone and video! Got a question, is it possible to use the follow-me or follow-car feature with the camera pointing more into the horizon (instead of camera pointing almost straight down). It think the viewer would get a much better sense of the surrounding scenery with the camera pointing more horizontally.


By the way, I think it will be a very long time before the drone and fly ahead of the car to detect traffic. You need to basically live feed gps data and your planned route from the car to the drone, so the drone know where to fly two miles ahead. Currently, the drone is just using computer vision (camera) to make the follow function possible. The drone has to easily "see" your car in order for it to work. I bet if you drive your car on the street/highway and your car is mixing in with tons of other cars, the drone will get confused right away.
 
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Great drone and video! Got a question, is it possible to use the follow-me or follow-car feature with the camera pointing more into the horizon (instead of camera pointing almost straight down). It think the viewer would get a much better sense of the surrounding scenery with the camera pointing more horizontally.

Thank you! Yes, I believe I could have brought the drone down more to get the perspective you are looking for, but in this scenario I was afraid of it hitting the light poles so I put it up above them. The obstacle avoidance sensors are only on the front and this being my first time trying the follow feature, I wasn't comfortable testing that feature. lol Thanks for your comments!
 
Thank you! Yes, I believe I could have brought the drone down more to get the perspective you are looking for, but in this scenario I was afraid of it hitting the light poles so I put it up above them. The obstacle avoidance sensors are only on the front and this being my first time trying the follow feature, I wasn't comfortable testing that feature. lol Thanks for your comments!
haha, cool. Maybe there is a feature where you can still fly it above the light poles, i.e. the drone is flying maybe 30 feet behind you and high up, and the camera is pointing horizontally to capture you and the surrounding scenery.
 
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