Autopilot Beta Test

Hangar · May 30, 2015

Hey everyone-

We have been hard at work on the next version of Autopilot - DJI (2.0) and we are ready to start the beta test. Send an email to [email protected] if you would like to participate - we would love your feedback!

New features include:

Inspire 1 and Phantom 3 support
Dynamic home point
Data logging (settings, telemetry, controls, commands)
Point-of-Interest for several modes, including Focus, Hover, Follow, Orbit and Mimic
Gimbal yaw in focus mode (Inspire only)
Updated flight dashboard to show telemetry while looking at the camera and map
Constant altitude reference - useful if your device has no barometer and you know that you will not be changing altitude
Apple watch integration (for quick disengage)

Thanks,
Jim

britchris1 · May 30, 2015

Very cool, sent email

Bahamasky · May 30, 2015

Email sent!

delirious · May 30, 2015

Email sent

Markus DeBose · May 30, 2015

Email sent

Outta Control · May 31, 2015

The Editor · May 31, 2015

Autoflight Logic said:
Hey everyone-

We have been hard at work on the next version of Autopilot - DJI (2.0) and we are ready to start the beta test. Send an email to [email protected] if you would like to participate - we would love your feedback!

New features include:

Inspire 1 and Phantom 3 support

Dynamic home point

Data logging (settings, telemetry, controls, commands)

Point-of-Interest for several modes, including Focus, Hover, Follow, Orbit and Mimic

Gimbal yaw in focus mode (Inspire only)

Updated flight dashboard to show telemetry while looking at the camera and map

Constant altitude reference - useful if your device has no barometer and you know that you will not be changing altitude

Apple watch integration (for quick disengage)

Thanks,
Jim

Jim,

Thank you very much for your post, I am sure there will be a lot of interest and take up.

One question I will ask on behalf of the forum members here:

Do you warrant the beta trials in any way so that if a user destroys his/her Inspire and it is directly attributable to a fault/bug in your software you will replace/repair that persons Inspire at Autoflightlogic's expense?

I assume you require users/beta testers to sign an NDA etc?

Many thanks

Markus DeBose · May 31, 2015

I second that! Thanks to the editor for that one! Because we're so ready for full autonomous flight we don't think about the end results of beta testing! Which is by trial and error to get things right! Not saying anything mean or disrespectful about the programmers. But just like dji firmware updates and so on there's likely something that could happen during testing of anything new on the market that's why it's called beta meaning it's in the testing stages of production! So is there or will there be anything covered or warranted that you or the soul owner of this bprogram beta program repair or go in part with cost to repair or even replace an owners 3,000 plus dji flagship?

delirious · May 31, 2015

I had planned on using my phantom 3 and doing the testing in an open field. Still. Repairs and time would still play here

Hangar · May 31, 2015

Thanks for the question and we understand your concerns.

The short answer is, no - users take full responsibility.

The long answer is, we realize there may be rare exceptions where the software truly causes an unrecoverable situation, and we are willing to listen and be reasonable.

The truth is, there have been thousands of flights with our app so far (since the March release), both using the production version, and beta versions, and there have still been no incidents where the app was at fault. Of the incidents that have occurred (there have only been 3 that we are aware of), the cause was determined to be the user not following the instructions in Flight School:
http://autoflightlogic.com/autopilotphantom/flightschool

For example, users put the craft in Naza-M mode, flew in high winds, and flew near obstacles without being ready to take control at a moment's notice with the RC. The app anticipates that issues may arise in real world flight conditions and we take advantage of the hardware switches on the RC to provide the human with a quick fail-safe to override the computer instantly.

We take safety very seriously, and we hope this is evidenced by the amount of time and attention we spent on Flight School. I am a licensed private pilot myself and come from a family of professional pilots. We used this extensive network to refine Flight School over the course of many months during the initial and ongoing development.

Having said all of that, I would also like to mention that we treat all of our beta versions like release candidates and have spent hundreds of hours flight testing before a customer or beta tester ever gets to touch the software.

No NDA is required at this time, but users must agree to the license agreement that is presented when the app is first opened.