ryethenovel Chapter 43 No Response
Chapter 43 No Response
In the afternoon, in the conference room.
Su Chen wrote three lines on the whiteboard:
DJI's Path: Enclosed Complete System, Priced at 2.5 Yuan
[Hongyuan's Path: ???]
[A pain point for the entire industry: They can make hardware, but not flight control systems]
Zhang Lei, Zhou Ming, Meng Xiaosui, and Li Wei sat opposite each other.
Su Chen got straight to the point:
"DJI has lowered its prices in the agricultural equipment market. The MG-1S has dropped from 43,000 yuan to 25,000 yuan. This price difference with our HY-AG has narrowed to 7,000 to 10,000 yuan. If we continue to sell complete units as originally planned, we simply cannot compete with DJI in terms of brand and service."
The four people had different expressions. Li Wei was doing the accounting. Meng Xiaosui was frowning. Zhou Ming waited expressionlessly for Su Chen to continue. Zhang Lei looked at the third line of text on the whiteboard, seemingly already guessing what was going on.
"So my decision is—" Su Chen filled in the answer on the second line of the whiteboard:
[Hongyuan's Path: Open Flight Controller SDK, Becoming the Industry's Flight Controller Supplier]
"Not selling complete units?" Meng Xiaosui was the first to react.
"It's not that we're not selling," Su Chen said. "We'll continue selling the complete drones developed in cooperation with Xiangtian. But at the same time—we want to package the flight control system as a separate product and offer it to the entire agricultural drone industry."
To whom should we sell?
"This applies to all agricultural machinery manufacturers that can make frames and spray systems but not flight control systems. There are hundreds of such companies nationwide—they can make spray systems, tractors, and agricultural vehicles, but they just can't make anything that can fly. Because flight control is the barrier to entry."
Su Chen drew a simple diagram on the whiteboard:
DJI Model: Closed Market – Bundled Flight Controller, Hardware, and Services – One Company Dominating the Entire Market
Hongyuan Model: Openness – Flight controllers are sold as independent products to N hardware manufacturers – N manufacturers work together to support one
"DJI is a lion. We can't be the second lion—we must be the alpha wolf of the pack."
Zhang Lei was the first to react: "You mean—package our flight control solution into an SDK and make it available to others?"
"Yes. It's not open source code—it's a modular product offering flight control solutions to third-party hardware platforms. Hardware manufacturers buy our flight control modules and license our algorithms, install them on their own racks, and sell them under their own brand. We charge a module fee plus an algorithm licensing fee."
The meeting room was silent for several seconds.
Li Wei was the first to ask: "President Su, if this is the case, others who buy our flight control system can make the same agricultural drone as us—so will we still be able to sell our own complete drones?"
"Good question," Su Chen said. "First, the SDK we provide to external parties will be the standard version, while we and Xiangtian will use a more advanced customized version for our own complete aircraft. The core differentiation of the flight controller will always remain in our hands. Second, the gross profit margin of selling flight controllers is much higher than that of selling complete aircraft—because the cost of flight controllers is mainly R&D, and the marginal production cost is very low. The more we sell, the higher the unit profit."
Zhou Ming raised another question: "Who will buy it? Right now, people probably don't know what our flight controller can do."
"Therefore, Professor Chen Hongyuan's role is crucial," Su Chen said. "He is an authority in the field of agricultural machinery. If he is willing to recommend our flight control solution in academic and industry circles, those companies that have been making agricultural machinery for decades will know—now someone can sell them a brain that can make their machines fly."
"If this strategy succeeds—" Zhang Lei said, "we won't just be a drone company anymore. We'll become a flight control supplier."
"It's not just about suppliers," Su Chen said, "it's about the platform. Whoever controls the flight control platform controls the entry ticket to the agricultural drone industry. Every agricultural drone that takes off using our flight control system is part of the Hongyuan ecosystem."
Meng Xiaosui said uncertainly, "President Su, but... will anyone be willing to buy it? Everyone is looking at DJI's direction right now, and we don't have any customer base in the agricultural protection industry."
"So this won't happen overnight," Su Chen said. "The first step is to develop the SDK. The second step is to find the first agricultural machinery company willing to try it. The third step is to get their product sold. Once the first one is sold, the rest will follow."
"And the first company willing to try it out—" Su Chen looked at the whiteboard, "is already there. It's Xiangtian. Liu Gang's agricultural drone uses our flight control system. If Xiangtian can sell the first batch—that would be the best example."
The decision was made, but reality was colder than anyone else's.
Zhang Lei led his team to spend three weeks packaging HY-AG's flight control solution into a modular SDK—including the flight control motherboard, firmware, flight path planning algorithm, HY-AG control interface, and a set of detailed technical integration documents.
Su Chen published the productization documentation for this solution on Hongyuan's official website, and also through Hardcore Innovation Network, Yuchen.com, and several vertical media outlets in the agricultural machinery industry.
The reaction is cold.
Week 1: Zero consultations.
Week 2: An agricultural machinery factory from Henan sent an email asking for some technical parameters, and then there was no further communication.
Week 3: No new consultations.
Three weeks have passed, and Hongyuan has not sold a single flight control SDK.
Industry media have taken notice of this situation.
An opinion piece on YuChen.com stated: "HongYuan's flight control platform strategy looks promising, but the reality is—with DJI already firmly holding the agricultural product market at a price of 25,000 yuan, who would risk using a flight control solution from a small company with no existing agricultural product customer base?"
There's also discussion on Weibo:
"Hongyuan's idea is too idealistic. A company that hasn't sold a single agricultural drone wants to become the entire industry's flight control supplier?"
"After DJI lowered its prices, there's no room left for small companies in the agricultural drone market. Instead of messing around with agricultural drones, Hongyuan should focus on making good consumer-grade products."
"A flight control platform sounds cool, but who will buy it?"
Su Chen's expression didn't change much when he saw these comments.
He knew this would happen.
It's normal for nobody to believe in something new when it comes out. This isn't the first time—nobody believed in the F2 work version when it first launched either. It was the ground sales team that sold them one by one.
The same logic applies to agricultural drone flight controllers—they need the first sample customer, the first machine sold, and the first set of actual operational data.
And this model customer is Xiangtian.
Xiangtian's HY-AG complete machine is currently undergoing final small-batch trial production. The first batch of commercial products is expected to be available by the end of February.
Once Xiangtian's plant protection machines are sold in their first batch—and farmers use them, find them useful, and spread the word—those hesitant agricultural machinery manufacturers will understand one thing:
No need to develop your own flight controller, no need to compete head-on with DJI, just buy a flight controller solution from Hongyuan, install it on your own machine, and you can immediately enter the agricultural drone market.
Once this window is opened, the rest will flood in like water.
Su Chen was certain of this.
Because this is how the drone industry developed in the past – the open-source flight control solutions PX4 and APM made hundreds of drone companies successful, while DJI's closed ecosystem, although more profitable, has always left a lot of gaps in the low-end and mid-range markets.
Just because no one is buying now doesn't mean no one will ever buy.
The time is just not right yet.
Su Chen closed the comments page on his computer and opened the virtual disassembly lab.
The technical teardown of the Mavic Pro is now 90% complete. The remaining 10% concerns the visual obstacle avoidance algorithm—one of DJI's core competitive advantages in consumer products.
Su Chen wasn't going to follow that path. The F3 was positioned as a "work drone," not a "personal entertainment drone." What he needed was DJI's technological approach to reliability and adaptability to harsh environments, not visual obstacle avoidance.
Based on the disassembly results, he began writing the first version of the design document for the F3's flight control architecture.
Core focus: Flight stability in harsh environments – high winds, high temperatures, low temperatures, dust storms, and electromagnetic interference.
This is a track that the Mavic Pro completely ignores.
But for small businesses in the county, this is a million times more important than folding and obstacle avoidance.
Su Chen wrote a line on the first page of the document:
HY-F3 Consumer-Grade UAV Flight Control Architecture Design (Draft)
Positioning: A flying vehicle designed for operational purposes.
Key word: durable.
Outside the window is the Shenzhen night scene at the end of January, with distant lights blurred into a hazy blur in the mist.
The agricultural flight control SDK has received no response for three weeks. DJI's price cuts are looming. Industry skepticism outweighs acceptance.
But Su Chen did not waver.
Because he knew that's how it is when all new things first come out. The F2 was the same when it was first launched—it was sold one by one by the ground sales team.
The flight controller SDK will be the same.
Only the first sample is needed.
Xiangtian's first batch of commercial products will be delivered next month.
Su Chen closed the comments page and focused intently on the design of the F3.
We can wait for external opinions.
Products cannot wait.