Autel’s EVO Max 4T Drone Has Three Cameras and Up to 10x Optical Zoom
Autel has announced the EVO Max 4T drone that can perform semi-autonomous flight missions and is equipped with two high-resolution cameras — including a telephoto option with a 10x optical zoom — and an infrared camera.
Autel is positioning the EVO Max 4T for as ideal for both “prosumer” applications as well as for enterprise, and the company’s marketing puts significant emphasis on its use for search and rescue or law enforcement.
“The EVO Max 4T has a versatile payload bay that allows for a variety of sensors to be used for a wide range of applications,” the company explains. “Its Enterprise App is specifically designed to revolutionize the cooperation between drones and pilots. This drone can perform multiple semi-autonomous flight missions, autonomous pathfinding, live streaming, and target acquisition, and also includes various smart accessibility features. Potential applications for the EVO Max 4T include search and rescue, firefighting support, mapping, and inspection.”
The EVO Max 4T is equipped with three cameras, though only two of them are likely to be of interest to photographers and filmmakers. First is its primary 50-megapixel wide-angle system with its Type 1/1.28 CMOS sensor. Second is a 48-megapixel telephoto camera that features 10x optical zoom and up to 160x digital zoom using its Type 1/2 CMOS sensor. The EVO Ma 4T can shoot up to 8K video. The last camera is an infrared affair and features a 640 by 512-pixel resolution and a 1.2-kilometer ranging distance.
The company claims that its array of sensors provides the drone with full information on its surroundings with no blind spots. Autel says that the EVO Max 4T is the only commercial drone that combines traditional binocular vision systems
with millimeter-wave radar technology. This allows the EVO Max 4T’s onboard “Autel Autonomy Engine” to perceive objects down to 0.5 inches and enables it to operate in low light or rainy conditions.
Autel additionally claims that because of these sensors, it can navigate easily within hardened structures, underground, or in environments with no access to global positioning.
Additionally, thanks to Autel’s AI recognition technology, the EVO Max 4T can automatically identify and lock onto different types of targets such as heat sources, moving people, or vehicles and achieve high-altitude tracking and data collection — features specifically tailored to law enforcement.
Autel says that the EVO Max 4T has a maximum flight time of 42 minutes, a “service ceiling” of 23,000 feet, a transmission range of up to 12.4 miles (a 1080p, 60 frames per second feed), and a maximum wind resistance of 27 miles per hour. The drone is also rated for IP43 weather resistance.
The EVO Max 4T also works with Autel’s A-Mesh 1.0 system, which it claims is the drone industry’s first mesh networking technology that allows drone-to-drone autonomous communication, connection, and collaboration.
While Autel says the drone is positioned as an option for “prosumers” and enterprise, how it is handling pricing is more akin to the latter than the former. The company has not shared any pricing information on the EVO Max 4T in its press materials or on its website, instead asking interested parties to reach out directly — a commonplace practice for enterprise products.
Image credits: Autel
