DJI unveiled Dock 4 in Shenzhen on October 14, 2026. It is the fourth generation of a dock series the company started in 2022, and the first in the line to replace the drone's battery rather than recharge it in place. Earlier docks typically needed about half an hour on the ground between missions while the aircraft charged. According to DJI, Dock 4 completes a battery exchange in 25 seconds and can have the drone back in the air within 45 seconds of landing. DJI notes that the swap time comes from controlled tests and is measured from the moment the dock cover closes.
The mechanism uses a rotating carousel to pull out the spent pack and load a charged one, while a wireless power link keeps the aircraft's electronics running during the change. The dock is rated to work from -40°C to 50°C.
Dock 4 is paired with a new aircraft, the Matrice 5TD. DJI rates it for up to 59 minutes in the air and 21 m/s top speed. The camera package combines an 11x telephoto lens, which DJI says can read a licence plate at 400 metres and pick out bolts and pins at 100 metres, with a thermal camera that reaches 2560 × 2048 in its ultra-high-resolution mode and a laser rangefinder with a range of up to 3 km.
For flying near structures, the drone combines radar sensing in three directions, a spinning LiDAR unit and vision sensors facing six ways, and it can take off and land in winds up to 12 m/s. It carries up to 450 g of accessories across three mounting points, such as a speaker, spotlight and parachute, and its onboard AI recognises 17 categories of objects in real time, including vehicles and vessels. DJI also says drone-to-cloud video latency has dropped to 160 milliseconds, about 32% lower than the previous generation.
By DJI's count, its docks are in use across 80-plus countries and regions and have completed over 8 million flights. In China, a Dock 4 kit including the Matrice 5TD and the O4 Ground Station is listed at RMB 167,999, with software subscriptions and non-standard installation charged separately. Elsewhere, buyers order through DJI's authorised enterprise dealer network; no international price has been announced. For European and UK operators, DJI states that the Matrice 5TD meets the product requirements for the C5/C6 and UK5/UK6 classes when fitted with its AP1 parachute, though operators still need the relevant flight approvals.
For utilities, emergency services and survey firms, the main change is less downtime between flights: a fixed site can now support repeated missions without anyone on location. Buyers should plan for the full system rather than the dock alone, including the paired aircraft, ground station, software subscription and local permits, and should treat DJI's performance figures as test-condition values. If you are comparing automated dock systems from Chinese suppliers or need help sourcing and shipping a complete set, our team can help you scope the order.