Chinese carmaker Build Your Dreams (BYD) and fellow Chinese drone maker DJI have partnered on a new, quirky car accessory: a roof-mounted drone launchpad called "Lingyuan."
The dock can be installed on most BYD vehicles, and drivers can control it directly from the car's touchscreen.

The DJI drones can take off and land from the car pod "at speeds up to 25 km/h" and return to the station automatically when flying within a two-kilometer radius. A follow function also enables the drone to always tail the car up to a maximum speed of 54 km/h. 

While the entire contraption appears uncannily futuristic, the only use cases we see would be in off-road situations, where it could be useful to send the drone ahead as a sentinel of sorts. While the same functionality could prove useful in the city to estimate traffic and road conditions, it would be quite hard to justify the use case to traffic authorities and get the proper permits to fly a fully automated drone in a crowded city scenario.

It's worth noting that the Lingyuan is not just a concept or a prototype but a real product that customers can buy for 16.000 yuan (about $2200), including the drone.