When (or if) Ring’s security camera drone flies into our homes in January, you won’t have the option to pilot it yourself. Ring Drone Cam relies entirely on an “AI Pilot” system to follow pre-programmed routes and autonomously navigate around obstacles, with no manual control option available, and an embarrassing demo with CBS News could reveal why.
The video, broadcast on CBS Mornings and posted on Threads, shows Ring founder Jamie Siminoff allowing tech reporter Jo Ling Kent to manually fly an early version of the drone via a mobile app with built-in controls.
Ling Kent: “Can I control it?”
Siminoff: “Yes, then we can load manual controls.”
The demo then shows the drone crashing twice while being piloted manually. At first, Ring allegedly told him CBS News that the drone’s collision avoidance technology malfunctioned and refused to share video recorded by the drone before it crashed. CBS News He caught the second crash on camera, and footage showed the drone crashing into a wall after failing to respond to manual controls. According to Siminoff, this occurred because the drone lost Internet connectivity, which it also depends on to fly autonomously.
“If you lose connectivity, you’re supposed to stop and land,” Siminoff said in the video. “It wasn’t like that.”
Ring declined to show us the app in our own Drone Cam demo, saying it only works on pre-programmed flight paths. It appears that while manual flight controls were included in some In development, Ring will not make the feature available to customers when Drone Cam launches in January.
“We explored many features throughout development, but autonomous flight to patrol points using AI Pilot is the best customer benefit and experience,” Ring spokesperson Sam McGee said in a statement to The edge. Ring did not respond to our question about whether the decision not to include manual controls was made after the CBS News manifestation.
