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Ring confirms its camera drone won’t have manual controls after crashing on CBS News

By · Via The Verge · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Ring announced that its Drone Cam will launch this January with an automated "AI Pilot" system rather than user-operated flight options. The change follows a televised demonstration on CBS Mornings where an early prototype crashed into a wall after losing connectivity. The device failed to initiate its built-in safety protocol to land automatically when the network connection dropped. Ring maintains that automated routing delivers the safest and most effective experience for home monitoring.

Key points

  • The upcoming indoor drone will depend completely on autonomous navigation rather than con…: The upcoming indoor drone will depend completely on autonomous navigation rather than consumer steering inputs.
  • Users will only be permitted to dispatch the camera along pre-programmed flight paths and…: Users will only be permitted to dispatch the camera along pre-programmed flight paths and patrol points.
  • Ring declined to confirm if the dual televised crashes caused the removal of user steerin…: Ring declined to confirm if the dual televised crashes caused the removal of user steering features.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

When (or if) Ring’s security camera drone flies into our homes in January, you won’t get the option to pilot it yourself. The Ring Drone Cam relies entirely on an “AI Pilot” system to follow pre-programmed routes and navigate autonomously around obstacles, with no manual control option available — and an embarrassing demonstration with CBS News might reveal why.

Ring confirms its camera drone won’t have manual controls after crashing on CBS News

The Ring Drone Cam will entirely rely on AI autopilot to fly around your home.

The Ring Drone Cam will entirely rely on AI autopilot to fly around your home.

The video, broadcast on CBS Mornings and published on Threads, shows Ring founder Jamie Siminoff allowing technology reporter Jo Ling Kent to manually fly an early version of the drone via a mobile app with integrated controls.

Ling Kent: “Can I control it?”

Siminoff: “Yeah, so we can load manual controls.”

The demo then shows the drone crashing twice while being manually piloted. In the first instance, Ring reportedly told CBS News that the drone’s collision avoidance…

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