 When the Verge began covering drones three years ago, we got a lot of grief about using that word, drone. These were just remote control toys, people would say. They couldn't fly themselves. At CES the last two years, we finally saw drones that could sense and avoid obstacles. But these were R&D projects and tech demos. So far, not gadgets you could actually buy. Well, that all changes today with the introduction of DJI's newest drone, the Phantom 4. This is kind of the drone that we've been waiting for. There were drones that could help you fly, that could take off and land or return home. Then there were drones that could follow you or orbit around you, but they were always blind to their surroundings. If it was following you down a ski slope and there was a tree in the way, like, the drone doesn't know about that and it's just going to go right into it. So this is a little different. Before when the Phantom was following me, it was using GPS. So it was following my phone, which was attached to the remote. Now it's using computer vision, identifying me as a subject and then following based on that. That's the real difference is follow me is not following me, it's following the signal. Whereas ActiveTrack is actually creating that image of the person, recognizing the 3D image that changes because you don't look the same when you turn your head to the side as when you do looking forward or when you're walking you look different too. But the Phantom 4 is smart enough to recognize that it's still you and stay locked on to you. This is really the implementation that we dreamt of, which is a combination of computer vision that's going to keep the subject completely in frame and also active obstacle avoidance. So it senses the air environment around it and will make intelligent decisions to avoid collision. Avoiding crashes is a great new feature, obviously, but DJI is using the computer vision technology to do more than just that. A new feature called ActiveTrack, for example, lets you trace a circle around a subject you want to keep in frame. The Phantom's onboard computer builds a 3D model of that subject and then automatically follows it for you. The Phantom 4 accomplished this feat with the help of three extra cameras, two in the front and one below, and two ultrasonic sensors. It has also added a second onboard computer for processing and understanding the data it's ingesting about the environment. It's the first consumer unit to come to market that can actually see the world around it and adjust accordingly, a big step towards a truly autonomous aircraft. The new Phantom isn't cheaper than previous versions. In fact, at $1399 it's more expensive than the top-tier Phantom 3 was at release, but the pitch from DJI to consumers, especially beginners, is different this time. Normally when people ask me, this is my first drone, what should I buy? I would say buy the cheap one, learn how to fly. I'm getting to a point with this craft, despite what you were talking about slightly above the Phantom 3 Professional in price when it comes out, with those autonomous flight modes, a beginner can fly this. So the learning curve used to be pretty high, even before the Phantom series. With the Phantom 3, it became a lot easier to get up in the air, but there's still a lot of confidence issues for people getting up in the air for the first time and learning how to get excellent shots. We're trying to decrease that time from getting up in the air for the very first time and getting exactly the shot that you want, and this is the system to do that. By and large, if you wanted to do any complex maneuvers, you had to learn how to use the two-strip controller and fly manually. So the idea is with tap to fly, you don't have to do that anymore, you can just sort of use the viewfinder, like what you can see as the way to set the shot. We're trying to find an easier interface for first time pilots to be able to use, and there's really nothing more simple than pointing in a direction that you want it to fly. It also makes it easier to get smooth shots. When you're filming in one direction, you're often making little micro-corrections that cause the footage to look a little wobbly. This just creates one smooth shot, and if you try to change directions, likewise it'll smooth out the direction of the shot so that you get a really beautiful image. So now we're heading towards the building, fingers crossed it will make a decision about how to deal with that. So yeah, as you can see it just got a really beautiful shot going over the top of that abandoned factory, and we didn't decide to ascend it, did that all on its own, it cleared it perfectly. That's a lot closer than I probably would have felt flying on my own, but you let the robot decide what's best. So this is our moment of truth, the drone is going to lock onto us as a human wall, one of us anyway, and then we're going to tap to fly, it's going to head towards us and sense that we're an obstacle, hopefully, and avoid us. So you just pick a point in front of it, hit go, here comes the drone, hopefully it sees us and decides to fly over our head. Wasn't even close. See, benevolent robot overlords. The fully autonomous mode on the Phantom 4 are amazing, and they're starting to push up against the edge of what the Federal Aviation Administration considers safe flying practices. So I guess the hardball question I ask now is, if somebody buys this and learns to take off with the swipe of a button and just uses tap to fly, they never learn to fly, then what happens if something goes wrong, they've never really used a two-stick controller. Right, so there's actually a number of things that we've built on board. One is there's some things that you can only access if you're using two sticks. So using sports mode, for example, that's an advanced flying mode that we only allow people to unlock if they agree that they know how to fully operate using the sticks. Then there's some more advanced features like that rotation around people, that still requires using the two-stick interface while it's tracking. So it's these different things that we're trying to provide options for people going from the very entry level to more advanced features down the line. I think the thing that is most exciting and probably most terrifying about this is that a lot of beginners are going to be able to take this drone out into the field, to do a lot of great flying, and to basically never learn to pilot. It's kind of like when Tesla pushed that update to its car that was self-driving and then told you to keep your hands on the wheel. That's the way people are. They give it the ability to be completely autonomous. Some people are going to get reckless with it. But definitely the most exciting drone I've ever played with and the one that is most aptly referred to as an actual drone.
 When the Verge began covering drones three years ago, we got a lot of grief about using
 that word, drone.
 These were just remote control toys, people would say.
 They couldn't fly themselves.
 At CES the last two years, we finally saw drones that could sense and avoid obstacles.
 But these were R&D projects and tech demos.
 So far, not gadgets you could actually buy.
 Well, that all changes today with the introduction of DJI's newest drone, the Phantom 4.
 This is kind of the drone that we've been waiting for.
 There were drones that could help you fly, that could take off and land or return home.
 Then there were drones that could follow you or orbit around you, but they were always
 blind to their surroundings.
 If it was following you down a ski slope and there was a tree in the way, like, the drone
 doesn't know about that and it's just going to go right into it.
 So this is a little different.
 Before when the Phantom was following me, it was using GPS.
 So it was following my phone, which was attached to the remote.
 Now it's using computer vision, identifying me as a subject and then following based on that.
 That's the real difference is follow me is not following me, it's following the signal.
 Whereas ActiveTrack is actually creating that image of the person, recognizing the 3D image
 that changes because you don't look the same when you turn your head to the side as when
 you do looking forward or when you're walking you look different too.
 But the Phantom 4 is smart enough to recognize that it's still you and stay locked on to you.
 This is really the implementation that we dreamt of, which is a combination of computer
 vision that's going to keep the subject completely in frame and also active obstacle avoidance.
 So it senses the air environment around it and will make intelligent decisions to avoid collision.
 Avoiding crashes is a great new feature, obviously, but DJI is using the computer vision technology
 to do more than just that.
 A new feature called ActiveTrack, for example, lets you trace a circle around a subject you
 want to keep in frame.
 The Phantom's onboard computer builds a 3D model of that subject and then automatically
 follows it for you.
 The Phantom 4 accomplished this feat with the help of three extra cameras, two in the
 front and one below, and two ultrasonic sensors.
 It has also added a second onboard computer for processing and understanding the data
 it's ingesting about the environment.
 It's the first consumer unit to come to market that can actually see the world around it
 and adjust accordingly, a big step towards a truly autonomous aircraft.
 The new Phantom isn't cheaper than previous versions.
 In fact, at $1399 it's more expensive than the top-tier Phantom 3 was at release, but
 the pitch from DJI to consumers, especially beginners, is different this time.
 Normally when people ask me, this is my first drone, what should I buy?
 I would say buy the cheap one, learn how to fly.
 I'm getting to a point with this craft, despite what you were talking about slightly above
 the Phantom 3 Professional in price when it comes out, with those autonomous flight modes,
 a beginner can fly this.
 So the learning curve used to be pretty high, even before the Phantom series.
 With the Phantom 3, it became a lot easier to get up in the air, but there's still a
 lot of confidence issues for people getting up in the air for the first time and learning
 how to get excellent shots.
 We're trying to decrease that time from getting up in the air for the very first time and
 getting exactly the shot that you want, and this is the system to do that.
 By and large, if you wanted to do any complex maneuvers, you had to learn how to use the
 two-strip controller and fly manually.
 So the idea is with tap to fly, you don't have to do that anymore, you can just sort
 of use the viewfinder, like what you can see as the way to set the shot.
 We're trying to find an easier interface for first time pilots to be able to use, and there's
 really nothing more simple than pointing in a direction that you want it to fly.
 It also makes it easier to get smooth shots.
 When you're filming in one direction, you're often making little micro-corrections that
 cause the footage to look a little wobbly.
 This just creates one smooth shot, and if you try to change directions, likewise it'll
 smooth out the direction of the shot so that you get a really beautiful image.
 So now we're heading towards the building, fingers crossed it will make a decision about
 how to deal with that.
 So yeah, as you can see it just got a really beautiful shot going over the top of that
 abandoned factory, and we didn't decide to ascend it, did that all on its own, it cleared
 it perfectly.
 That's a lot closer than I probably would have felt flying on my own, but you let the
 robot decide what's best.
 So this is our moment of truth, the drone is going to lock onto us as a human wall,
 one of us anyway, and then we're going to tap to fly, it's going to head towards us
 and sense that we're an obstacle, hopefully, and avoid us.
 So you just pick a point in front of it, hit go, here comes the drone, hopefully it sees
 us and decides to fly over our head.
 Wasn't even close.
 See, benevolent robot overlords.
 The fully autonomous mode on the Phantom 4 are amazing, and they're starting to push
 up against the edge of what the Federal Aviation Administration considers safe flying practices.
 So I guess the hardball question I ask now is, if somebody buys this and learns to take
 off with the swipe of a button and just uses tap to fly, they never learn to fly, then
 what happens if something goes wrong, they've never really used a two-stick controller.
 Right, so there's actually a number of things that we've built on board.
 One is there's some things that you can only access if you're using two sticks.
 So using sports mode, for example, that's an advanced flying mode that we only allow
 people to unlock if they agree that they know how to fully operate using the sticks.
 Then there's some more advanced features like that rotation around people, that still requires
 using the two-stick interface while it's tracking.
 So it's these different things that we're trying to provide options for people going
 from the very entry level to more advanced features down the line.
 I think the thing that is most exciting and probably most terrifying about this is that
 a lot of beginners are going to be able to take this drone out into the field, to do
 a lot of great flying, and to basically never learn to pilot.
 It's kind of like when Tesla pushed that update to its car that was self-driving and then
 told you to keep your hands on the wheel.
 That's the way people are.
 They give it the ability to be completely autonomous.
 Some people are going to get reckless with it.
 But definitely the most exciting drone I've ever played with and the one that is most
 aptly referred to as an actual drone.