Mavic Air 2 colliding with Activetrack object

[AAP]

The first time I enabled activetrack on my Mavic Air 2 it crashed into the selected object.
I've been flying mavic drones for a while and took delivery of a Mavic Air 2 yesterday. In a wide open field selected my truck on Activetrack, set to zero rotation at a distance of ~40m away with a fair altitude. Switched to sport mode (which I appreciate cancels collision avoidance). And set off, accelerating the truck to ~20mph then keeping the speed steady. I was holding the controller, but not making any adjustments. The drone quickly caught up. Then, as if possessed, honed in on my truck and continued to acclerate towards it. Seeing the imminent disaster on the screen I didnt have time to hit the little stop button, instead I pulled it into reverse and tried to increase altitude. It didn't respond and slammed into the tailgate.

Q: Should the drone not maintain a fairly consistent distance from the object its tracking?

Q: Even with collision avoidance off, why would it continue to acclerate into the source object?

Some background, which may be of relevance:
It was the drone's first outing, and it had never even seen an object to avoid before.
As you'll see on the video, there wasn't anything else around in the nearby airspace.
The truck was 'selected' whilst in normal mode. Once registered with the green box, I switched to sport.
The field had a slight incline.
It survived the crash, save for breaking a tail light.
I've since tested the object avoidance on normal mode and just walking between tree trunks and buildings, it seems to work well.

I'm sending the drone back to DJI to take a look. I offered to send the footage as I feel it is of relevance, but they didn't want to see it.

Any help would be really appreciated, thanks.

Mavic collision footage / youtube link

 

[Canuk]

Well (deleted by moderator) . Hope mine don’t do that

 

[Joe Foreman]

The first time I enabled activetrack on my Mavic Air 2 it crashed into the selected object.
I've been flying mavic drones for a while and took delivery of a Mavic Air 2 yesterday. In a wide open field selected my truck on Activetrack, set to zero rotation at a distance of ~40m away with a fair altitude. Switched to sport mode (which I appreciate cancels collision avoidance). And set off, accelerating the truck to ~20mph then keeping the speed steady. I was holding the controller, but not making any adjustments. The drone quickly caught up. Then, as if possessed, honed in on my truck and continued to acclerate towards it. Seeing the imminent disaster on the screen I didnt have time to hit the little stop button, instead I pulled it into reverse and tried to increase altitude. It didn't respond and slammed into the tailgate.

Q: Should the drone not maintain a fairly consistent distance from the object its tracking?

Q: Even with collision avoidance off, why would it continue to acclerate into the source object?

Some background, which may be of relevance:
It was the drone's first outing, and it had never even seen an object to avoid before.
As you'll see on the video, there wasn't anything else around in the nearby airspace.
The truck was 'selected' whilst in normal mode. Once registered with the green box, I switched to sport.
The field had a slight incline.
It survived the crash, save for breaking a tail light.
I've since tested the object avoidance on normal mode and just walking between tree trunks and buildings, it seems to work well.

I'm sending the drone back to DJI to take a look. I offered to send the footage as I feel it is of relevance, but they didn't want to see it.

Any help would be really appreciated, thanks.

Mavic collision footage / youtube link

It looked like the drone was accelerating to catch up to the truck, and the momentum carried it into it. Because you were in sport mode it wasn't carrying out any obsticle avoidance checks, which most likely would have resulted in it reducing speed before fully catching up. Think like a big rubber band. At the start it was keeping distance, but as the truck accelerated it over compensated to catch up. You can see at the last second it also loses track (that little camera jolt prior to contact). Normal mode wouldn't have led to a crash, or if you'd flicked it back into normal mode, the OA most likely would have saved you. That's my take anyhow. A bit of bad luck + a bit of unfamiliarity with the system.

 

[hiflyer201]

I would have thought sport mode would cancel active track. Too bad. I hope you can get a good result from DJI
sure is pretty scenery if that's any consolation.

 

[hiflyer201]

and I would have been wrong about sport mode cancelling active track by the way.

 

[KoorbeladDigital]

wow ... just watched the footage.

it homed in on you like a missile ... i hope everything works out.

K.

 

[z28lt1]

Seems crazy that it would run into the object like that.
The "Pause" button which is now a short press of the RTH button is useful in such "emergencies" which is why many of us were sad when it went away before we found out it was combined with the RTH button. Quickest thing over fumbling with screen or sticks. That said, seems it had some pretty good speed in sport mode, and even pause would not have stopped it instantly.

 

[LivinLarge]

Yours is not the first to do this.

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[pelermon]

I think that drone was built for Al-Qaeda.
Mistakenly sent to you.

 

[InvisibleName]

I tried exactly the same shot this evening, starting in Normal mode then changing to Sport once I’d reached a reasonable speed. It successfully maintained lock & dutifully followed my car for a mile.

 

[TwoLiterSoda]

I’ve had a few dive bombs with my zoom but luckily they missed or the sensor stopped it in time. I’ve only used it a few times now with my ma2 and when I do I keep a close eye on it.

 

[Simone L]

The first time I enabled activetrack on my Mavic Air 2 it crashed into the selected object.
I've been flying mavic drones for a while and took delivery of a Mavic Air 2 yesterday. In a wide open field selected my truck on Activetrack, set to zero rotation at a distance of ~40m away with a fair altitude. Switched to sport mode (which I appreciate cancels collision avoidance). And set off, accelerating the truck to ~20mph then keeping the speed steady. I was holding the controller, but not making any adjustments. The drone quickly caught up. Then, as if possessed, honed in on my truck and continued to acclerate towards it. Seeing the imminent disaster on the screen I didnt have time to hit the little stop button, instead I pulled it into reverse and tried to increase altitude. It didn't respond and slammed into the tailgate.

Q: Should the drone not maintain a fairly consistent distance from the object its tracking?

Q: Even with collision avoidance off, why would it continue to acclerate into the source object?

Some background, which may be of relevance:
It was the drone's first outing, and it had never even seen an object to avoid before.
As you'll see on the video, there wasn't anything else around in the nearby airspace.
The truck was 'selected' whilst in normal mode. Once registered with the green box, I switched to sport.
The field had a slight incline.
It survived the crash, save for breaking a tail light.
I've since tested the object avoidance on normal mode and just walking between tree trunks and buildings, it seems to work well.

I'm sending the drone back to DJI to take a look. I offered to send the footage as I feel it is of relevance, but they didn't want to see it.

Any help would be really appreciated, thanks.

Mavic collision footage / youtube link

Sorry that happened but isn’t it against FAA rules to be operating a vehicle and controller? Just asking.

 

[InvisibleName]

Sorry that happened but isn’t it against FAA rules to be operating a vehicle and controller? Just asking.

He‘s from the UK - FAA has no juristiction here

 

[FoxhallGH]

There is something strange about the active-track setting because it was starting to hunt the truck and move toward it before the truck even moved off????

 

[Simone L]

He‘s from the UK - FAA has no juristiction here

Didn’t know he was from UK.

 

[Nostris]

You guys don’t realise how lucky you are not to have the CAA. !

 

[InvisibleName]

Didn’t know he was from UK.

For future reference, it’s says where you’re from under the description of the poster (assuming you put the details in)

 

[sar104]

Didn’t know he was from UK.

 

[Aaron24]

Did the mavic loose altitude or maintain a constant altitude? Hard to tell as it looks like the car was climbing a hill but the Mavic was flying level.

 

[method007]

Yours is not the first to do this.

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(Deleted by moderator) that’s scary. Well, I’m never using active track for myself again. You clearly can only use it If you’re 100% focused on the controls.