Autel announces new EVO Max 4T drone at CES

Today at CES, Autel announced its newest drone to its lineup with the EVO Max 4T – a compact drone with a thermal zoom camera and a range finder all in one package for first responders.

Last year, Autel showed up at CES with two new consumer drones hoping to compete against DJI’s Mini and Air lineup. This year, Autel has brought something different to the table (literally).

The EVO Max 4T is an enterprise drone seemingly targeted toward first responders or large-scale enterprise solutions. Featuring a 640×512 thermal camera, 1/2 inch 50MP wide camera, and 1/1.68 inch 48MP zoom camera (10x optical, 160x digital), this looks to be a close competitor to DJI’s M30T.

The EVO Max also sports an IP43 rating, allowing the drone to fly in light rain and snow. For the cold, the battery compartment is heated, not to forget hot swappable (although there’s no mention of how that works with just one battery). The 8070 mAh battery will give you 42 minutes of flight time in ideal conditions.

360-degree obstacle avoidance with millimeter-wave radar

The most remarkable feature Autel put on the EVO Max is a new way to detect objects. Emitted from the drone is millimeter-wave radar that can detect objects around it, giving it an absolute 360-degree zone of detection. Paired with traditional sensors, Autel states that the EVO Max can see objects as small as half an inch, even in low light or rain.

According to Autel, this is the first drone of its kind to feature this system (I can’t think of one that has this either). This is the innovation we talk about wanting with competition in the drone industry. While Autel is still working on breaking up DJI’s stronghold in consumer drones, the enterprise market is packed with competition, which makes for unique and innovative features like this one.

Autel is showing the EVO Max 4T at its booth this week at CES, so if you’re there, check them out. If you cannot attend, don’t worry, I’ll bring you along and show off what’s new, interesting, and weird at this year’s biggest tech conference.