Autel Robotics and its partners used a conference in Shenzhen on October 30, 2026 to launch AAGI, short for Autel Air-Ground Intelligence. AAGI is not a single product. It is a system that links aerial drones, ground robots, uncrewed vehicles and industry software so that different machines can share one mission. It was developed with two partners, a robotics developer and a company that works on low-altitude security.
At its core is a software platform called AIP. It organises work around sites, facilities, equipment and tasks, turns a job request into a plan that different machines can carry out, and keeps people in the loop to confirm and supervise key steps. Three application platforms sit on top of it: EIS 2.0, Avant Hub 2.0 and Skyshield 2.0, covering security, inspection and low-altitude safety work. Autel Robotics CEO Wang Yuelu described the idea as "coordination between digital agents and physical agents."
Live demonstrations at the event focused on teamwork rather than single machines. Drones handled wide-area patrols, ground robots carried out close-up checks, and the software dispatched tasks and recorded results, across scenarios such as industrial park inspection, highway traffic inspection and emergency rescue.
On the aircraft side, the upgraded EVO III series adds autonomous operation, environmental sensing, networking with other machines and support for open payloads. The Apex drone can carry around 10 kg and several payloads at once, the Dragonfish series covers long-endurance, wide-area patrols, and Autel's docks support remote tasking, automatic take-off and landing, and battery swapping. On the ground, Ranger series robots are aimed at high-risk emergency work and long unattended inspection. Autel also outlined the Pioneer series of uncrewed vehicles, a Vector drone and the Titan 100 heavy-lift transport drone, which it says will arrive in stages as development and testing progress.
The software layer includes an industry model built for physical machines, with skills in task reasoning and planning, visual understanding, spatial understanding and tool use, so that equipment can take instructions and act on what it sees. Autel plans to sell AAGI through direct projects and channel partners, focusing on energy, transport and industrial park customers, and is exploring usage-based pricing for its AI services that would charge by the volume of model tokens consumed. That pricing approach is still at an early stage.
For buyers running inspection or security operations across large sites, the main change is a move from buying individual drones to buying a coordinated system. When assessing AAGI or similar offers from Chinese suppliers, buyers should ask which aircraft, docks and robots are available in their market today, which parts are standard and which need on-site customisation, and how AI usage will be billed over time. Several announced products are still in development. If you are comparing drone-and-robot inspection systems from Chinese manufacturers, our team can help you shortlist suppliers and scope a project.