Very well spoken. Captured many of my thoughts and raised some points I hadn't thought of.I hope this doesn't splinter focus from the other thread.
Here's what I already sent to Randall, the model of the email being:
- This is intended to help guide your decision in a helpful, thoughtful and critical manner
- I have a rich background making technical decisions and I do not agree with this, I'll share why
- Did you consider the impact?
- You can easily gauge market feedback in three places with nearly no effort and should incorporate what you client base and dealers are saying.
- Please reconsider what is likely to happen to your company, as a result of this decision, if you do not change course;
My fellow autelpilots.com community members: I'm honored to have had the opportunity to touch the products I have in my career and I'm just using that as a foundation to build credibility; this former kid from humble beginnings just wants to make a difference by being a decent human every day. I hope this is recognized a a formula that works to facilitate and be a catalyst to our efforts and work for good; it's what I'm about.
Hi Randall,
I'm Marc Hollander, a passionate owner of numerous drones with the most recent being an Autel Evo II Pro Rugged with five batteries.
I'm very concerned with a recent decision Autel Robotics made to address a chip shortage that significantly affects your customer base.
This email elaborates as to the specifics of the decision, its impact, statements of fact, likely outcomes and ways to mitigate.
I'm also a Chief Technology Officer of Tru Optik, A company recently acquired by TransUnion; my third startup exit.
I have to challenge the decision made to alter the feature set of the Smart Controller.
- I make complex technical and product decisions many times a day; my platform drives an identity graph that facilitates Internet TV (OTT) advertising
- We handle over a billion web hits a day (big data, large scale)
- My decisions have resulted in exits resulting in nearly $1 billion; I've turned around my last two exits in 1 - 2 years respectively from near bankruptcy to 8 and 9 figure exits.
To state facts:
Here's the impact on your customer base (comprised of businesses and enthusiasts):
- A feature was promised where is would support the existing Autel EVO II Series Platform
- A feature was promised where is would support future Autel products (where the community is anticipating a sub 250 gram offering)
- Preorders were placed by your customer base based on the feature set
- Recent announcements declared there would be two versions of the smart controller released due to chip shortages:
Was this decision made to preserve revenue for a quarter or a half during a chip shortage (which is not unprecedented - only thing that's unique is root cause)?
- Purchases were made of the first gen EVO II platform knowing the new smart controller would work with it and future products; decisions were misdriected
- How will Autel manage this customer experience?
- The offering of two different smart controllers, obviously meant to solve a problem, does not:
- If you're fortunate enough to get a controller that works with a legacy, v1 EVO II:
- What happens if you get a warranty or Autel Care replacement with regards to compatibility?
- If you lose your drone, not uncommon, when you replace it, how useful is that v1 compatible smart controller?
- If you have a v1 EVO II and your authorized reseller unfortunately sends you a v2 controller, what's that experience like for your customer?
- Do you have plans to mitigate this experience?
- As a consumer, if you're not well connected to the two Autel Groups on facebook and AutelPilots.com, and your reseller does not inform you of the loss of compatibility in the v1 controller, what will that experience be like for that consumer?
- How will Autel manage this?
- If so, have you analyzed the market impact of what this does to your client base and their willingness to be a repeat buyer?
- I have Three DJI Mavic Pros, Mavic 2 Pro, Mavic Zoom, Air 2S, Mavic Mini, Spark, Skydio 2 and a few more I built.
- This community is passionate and has money to spend.
- What's the forecast of short term gains from the new supplier vs. losing your loyal customers?
- The community likes the lack of geo fencing (DJI differentiator), likes the camera quality (time boxed until the Mavic Pro 3 meets or exceeds it), is not enthused with the standard controller.
- The Smart Controller promised to further differentiate Autel and likely had you forecasting a gain in market share.
- Based on the "chip debacle" I assert you will see market erosion and will have to regain market share with a product offering that may be technically superior, but ignored the investment you promised to support.
- A former boss of mine always said, "The perfect is the enemy of the good/" If this was a deciding factor, reconsider this choice. Even Occusync 3 can be controller with DJI's smart controller which was invented circa Occusync 2 (I know first hand.)
I have no idea what type of constraint decisions made to date may have put you in; e.g., tooling, chips acquired, assembly lines set up and running.
Regardless, I'm very concerned about the decisions made, I and the community do not embrace them, and strongly suggest you reconsider and reset direction to put this back on the path promised to your consumer community.
If you browse autelpilots.com, you will get a low cost high value sense of the impact and fallout of this decision. (There are two facebook groups as well.)
As a manager of managers, I cherish my considerate dissenters; it's what's let me have the honor of building coveted properties and products for decades - a true honor and a pleasure.
I hope you don't mind my frank assessment of Autel Robotic's decision, but it's the most value I can offer, it's intended to be constructive and yield the best outcome for all.
Feel free to reach out if you'd like - my phone is with me at all times.
Notice From Autel About Controllers and Compatibility in the Future
- Thread starter Eagle928
- Start date
Very well spoken. Captured many of my thoughts and raised some points I hadn't thought of.
Everyone is dealing with a lot of emotions on this subject... being that l also now have a one-off system that is a month old, with about a hour's worth of flight time, is disconcerting to say the least. But to inject some reality, here...
On the subject of retroactive upgrade to V2.0... the total number of Autel customers is probably in excess of 300,000 worldwide, at least. Of those, the number of Evo II V1.0 customers is what, maybe 33%, or about 100,000? If the company offered a hardware update to V2.0, how long would that take... given that all of those mods would come in at once? Are you willing to wait 3 months? 6 months? How many will go with another (company's) solution, because they cannot be left out swinging in the breeze that long?
On the subject of retroactive upgrade to V2.0... the total number of Autel customers is probably in excess of 300,000 worldwide, at least. Of those, the number of Evo II V1.0 customers is what, maybe 33%, or about 100,000? If the company offered a hardware update to V2.0, how long would that take... given that all of those mods would come in at once? Are you willing to wait 3 months? 6 months? How many will go with another (company's) solution, because they cannot be left out swinging in the breeze that long?
mshmovie
Well-Known Member
Thank you. It's always about the power of the group. It's about what we can do as a collective and there are a lot of people that observe and think here.
BTW, I forgot to mention a competitive advantage of the Autel Evo II is it's flight time and I'm sure others will offer some more and fill in some gaps. We may get some contribution from @advexure and @Empire Drone as I bet they're impacted at scale.
I fear what we're working to correct was a decision made by one or a few. It always best to get feedback from the market and make an informed decision - we're helping Autel out.
I really don't think it is necessary to upgrade a v1 customer to a v2 customer if everything is working fine for you. I don't think v1 support should be ended but I do understand limited further v1 development and maybe no longer accommodating new v1 accessories....minus the sc, of course. I do believe there should be a "technology" upgrade path from v1 to v2 or v1 to autel3 (v3) for those who have purchased drones in the calendar year 2021 and/or if you have autel care.
mshmovie
Well-Known Member
I would wait for something that is worthwhile; I delayed making a decision on the Skydio 2 and waited about nine months as a results of deferring a decision two days (I was testing support responsiveness).
So if Autel committed to doing this right, I'd gladly wait for a smart controller that supported their future product line and I'd embrace that product line too.
mshmovie
Well-Known Member
Anyone that ordered anything based on the feature set promised in the new controller is impacted by this decision and had financial exposure; that's what needs to be fixed.
If one does not choose an upgrade path... and at a future date your standard controller goes out, will they still have repair/replacements of V1... or only new (and incompatible) V2 controllers?
All current Evo II owners are affected by this, if parts compatibility impacts future repairs, irrelevant of whether or not a SC was on their radar.
UasDriver
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RFID is a red-heron IMO, you should be able to have a 2"X2" universal "black box" that works with any platform/system. Maybe even our fine FAA can roll one out, offer free beer, ice-cream, or lottery, to anyone that buys from them 
Your math is off. There is absolutely no way every single EVO II owner is at all interested in the Smart Controller. For those for whom the standard controller is fine, why would they need or want the upgrade?
Some may… and may want to spend the money to get a new V2 standard controller… but I’d guess the number who‘d go for an upgrade… even if the cost was nominal… would be less than 10%.
The issue with this transition is… Autel has basically telegraphed to us that there is no way for them to make V1 EVO II hardware… controller or bird… after their supply runs out.
That‘s effectively EOLing the V1 bird. If I drop my controller in a lake, I won’t be able to get a replacement. If the bird fails, it may be unrepairable.
Thats…. really really bad for a platform that’s as new as the EVO II if their goal is to get professionals to invest in their ecosystem.
DJI is a mess when it comes to backwards compatibility, but even they understand that EOLing a product in a year or so is a REALLY bad look. Heck, DJIs Smart Controller is compatible with models from a couple of generations that came out over a few years.
If they want to take on the 800 lb. gorilla in this market that is DJI, they need to prove to professionals that their platform is stable and investment-worthy. This doesn’t help that.
That‘s effectively EOLing the V1 bird. If I drop my controller in a lake, I won’t be able to get a replacement. If the bird fails, it may be unrepairable.
Thats…. really really bad for a platform that’s as new as the EVO II if their goal is to get professionals to invest in their ecosystem.
DJI is a mess when it comes to backwards compatibility, but even they understand that EOLing a product in a year or so is a REALLY bad look. Heck, DJIs Smart Controller is compatible with models from a couple of generations that came out over a few years.
If they want to take on the 800 lb. gorilla in this market that is DJI, they need to prove to professionals that their platform is stable and investment-worthy. This doesn’t help that.
PingSpike
Well-Known Member
Can a moderator merge this in to the main thread please?
autelpilots.com
Notice From Autel About Controllers and Compatibility in the Future
I got this announcement today from the Drone-Works who I placed my preorder with. This is a suicidal move from Autel and its so significant I am now struggling to justify going with Autel in the future and may as well convert to a DJI pilot as they would surely not do something so stupid and...
autelpilots.com
Agreed - was not my intent to splinter the original thread. I'm not usually vocal online - today changed that!Can a moderator merge this in to the main thread please?
Notice From Autel About Controllers and Compatibility in the Future
I got this announcement today from the Drone-Works who I placed my preorder with. This is a suicidal move from Autel and its so significant I am now struggling to justify going with Autel in the future and may as well convert to a DJI pilot as they would surely not do something so stupid and...
If they could somehow just make the Smart Controller V2 backwards compatible with the V1 drone it would solve the problem. Then just sell V2.
My EVO II Pro V1 works just fine now, if it were to crash or end up in the water and I had to replace it a V2 controller would work with an old or new one.
All I can see here is the controller issue .
My EVO II Pro V1 works just fine now, if it were to crash or end up in the water and I had to replace it a V2 controller would work with an old or new one.
All I can see here is the controller issue .
advexure
Well-Known Member
Our management team has known Randall for about six years or so and are working with he and the rest of the Autel executive team to provide feedback, improve transparency, and continue evolving the Autel product line. You can be assured that Advexure will have a loud and impactful voice to work through these developments and ensure the customer voice is heard loud and clear.
mshmovie
Well-Known Member
If they make the v2 controller compatible with v1. That's a direction they need to change. Livedeck owners will lose the value in the love deck as v2 airframes will not work with it. Autel has made themselves an engineering, reseller, support and customer relationship problem that is substantial in scope.
if your product is under warranty and you are making a valid warranty claim, autel will have the option to repair or replace per the warranty terms. obviously they will not send you a v2 controller because you can't do anything with a v2 controller. they would need to cover the warranty by replacing your broken v1 controller with a v2 controller and replacing your v1 drone with a v2 drone...under warranty. maybe it's a refurb, I dunno. if you inform them you have a v1 livedeck, will they replace it also? I dunno but I think they should.
this is no different than any other product on the market. if you are not under warranty, a good company will take care of you and a bad company will say you're sol. factories burn down, ships sink, parts come up missing....all the time. lots of products go out of existence and that is what warranties and insurance policies are for. the only laws in the usa regarding spare parts that I am aware of has to do with autos. last thing america needs is a bunch of broken cars with no parts. but drones....not so much. the upgrade path for out-of-warranty v1 controllers from autel falls under goodwill.
if you have a lifetime warranty on a product and a decade later the product breaks, companies have been known to replace you with the latest/later model. imo, if you are not under warranty, there is no obligation. luckily the secondary market is not so bad (at this time). autel pilots should plan accordingly.
to be fair, v1 is not eol. customers are free to buy it, they will fly, you will get sw updates, and support....and if it breaks under warranty, autel will honor AND fulfill the terms of the warranty. why do you think the product is eol? because a smart controller and livedeck accessory are no longer being built? you don't need these to fly. v1 is not as powerful as it once was but it's not eol. if you drop your controller in a lake and you are not under warranty, there is still a pretty strong market at this time.
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