Matrice 3D, Matrice 3DT, and DJI Dock 2 Appear in FCC Filing

DJI launched the Matrice 3D back in November of 2023—but only in China.

The Matrice 3D with the DJI Dock 2

You might remember the Matrice 3D as the mysterious “industrial drone” seen in leaked images of the Mini 4 Pro leading up to the 4 Pro’s launch. In those photos, the M3D was clearly a different kind of drone than the Mini—it was bigger, bulkier, and had a commercial feel to it.

But at first no one knew it was a new Matrice. And that’s in part because DJI had released a smaller Matrice, the M30, just a little over a year before, so no one expected another version to come out so quickly.

👉In addition to the test flight of the DJI Mini 4 Pro, a test flight of a new industrial drone has also been revealed. In this video, you can clearly see the camera unit like on the Mavic 3T. That’s all for now)#djimini4pro pic.twitter.com/hzZPA9ahS8

— Igor Bogdanov (@Quadro_News) August 19, 2023

And now, after months of waiting, it looks like the Matrice 3D will be coming to the U.S. soon.

Matrice 3D, Matrice 3DT, and DJI Dock 2 Hit FCC Database

When it came out, the M30 was launched along with DJI’s first ever drone nest, making it the company’s first drone-in-a-box solution.

The M3D was also launched with its own nest—the DJI Dock 2. Recent reporting finds that both the Matrice 3D and the Dock 2, as well as a thermal version of the 3D, have all been filed with the FCC, making a U.S. launch appear imminent.

Both of the drones recently appeared in FCC filings under FCC ID M3D2308, which is always one of the last steps taken before a drone becomes available.

The Dock 2 has also been filed with the FCC under ID DOCK022308.

About the Matrice 3D, the Matrice 3DT, and the DJI Dock 2

Since the drones and the dock are already launched in China we already have all the specs, as well as pricing.

Keep reading for a quick overview of each one.

The Matrice 3D

Pricing: The Matrice 3D starts at $9,615 (¥ 69,999) and the Matrice 3DT starts at $10,713 (¥ 77,999).

The Matrice 3D is even smaller than the Matrice 30, coming in at just 3 pounds as compared to the M30’s 8 pounds.

Here are the main specs for the Matrice 3D:

• Weight. 3.1 pounds.
• Wide-angle camera. 4/3″ CMOS; equivalent focal length of 24mm; 20MP; and mechanical shutter.
• Telephoto camera. 1/2″ CMOS; equivalent focal length of 161mm; 12MP.
• Flight time. 50 minutes.
• Transmission range. 6.2 miles.
• Max speed. 47 mph (in Sports mode).
• Max wind resistance. 26.8 mph.
• Weather resistant. IP 54 rating.

The DJI Dock 2

Pricing: Approximately $10,000 (the DJI Dock sells for about $30,000)

Like the Matrice 3D, the Dock 2 is smaller than the original. It weighs just 75 pounds—68% less than the whopping 235 pounds that the DJI Dock weighs.

Here are the main specs for the DJI Dock 2:

• Weight reduction. Weight reduction to 75 pounds, or 68% of the original Dock.
• Size reduction. Size reduction of 75% compared to the first Dock.
• Faster deployment. Deployment time reduced by 2.5 hours—now 30 minutes to deploy vs. 3 hours with the first Dock.
• Weather resistant. IP rating of 55.
• Fast charging. Can charge 20% to 90% in 32 minutes.
• Dual RTK. Comes with dual RTK antennas, helping drones in flight get accurate positioning for return landing.
• Image transmission. Image transmission via O3 Enterprise Edition.

Is There A Market for the Matrice 3D?

Brendan Schulman, former VP of Policy and Government Relations at DJI, summed up the uncertainty about whether the Matrice 30 could actually be sold in the U.S. in this tweet:

That would make sense. No market in the US or EU. https://t.co/PIQucGMY5s

— Brendan Schulman (@dronelaws) November 8, 2023

The reason Schulman said that? Because drone-in-a-box solutions are inherently BVLOS solutions. For a drone located in a remote nest to be useful it needs to be flown either autonomously or by a remotely located pilot.

And those kinds of operations are still quite limited in the U.S. Although the FAA’s BEYOND program has slowly been making progress on opening up BVLOS operations, there’s still a ways to go before you can actually use a drone-in-a-box without investing a lot of time and money in securing special permission from the FAA.

So the same question applies to the Matrice 3D and the Dock 2 as applied to the M30 and Dock—will people actually buy them as a single solution? And does either dock even have a market here in the U.S.?

The good news is that we should know soon enough. Given the FCC filings, we wouldn’t be surprised if both the Matrice 3D and the Dock 2 hit U.S. markets within the next month.