TL;DR
A CBS News demonstration of an early Ring Drone Cam showed it crash twice while being manually piloted through an app. Ring says the planned product will rely on autonomous AI Pilot routes and will not offer customer manual controls; the cause of the crashes and the timing of that product decision remain unclear.
Ring says its Drone Cam will launch without manual flight controls, after CBS News footage showed an early version of the home-security drone crash twice while Ring founder Jamie Siminoff demonstrated app-based piloting. The company says customers will use its AI Pilot system to send the drone along preset routes, but it has not said whether the decision to omit manual control followed the crashes.
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The video, broadcast on CBS Mornings and posted on Threads, shows technology reporter Jo Ling Kent asking Siminoff whether she can control the device. He replies, “Yeah, so we can load manual controls.” Footage then shows the drone colliding with objects on two occasions during the demonstration.
Ring gave CBS News different explanations for the two incidents. After the first crash, the company reportedly said its collision-avoidance technology malfunctioned and declined to provide the drone’s recording from before the impact. CBS News filmed the second crash: the drone hit a wall after it did not respond to manual commands. Siminoff said the device had lost internet connectivity. “If it loses connectivity, it’s supposed to stop and land,” he said. “It did not there.”
In a separate demonstration for The Verge, Ring declined to show the app and said the Drone Cam operates only on pre-programmed flight paths. Spokesperson Sam McGee said in a statement that the company had explored multiple features during development but that autonomous patrol to designated points offers the “best customer benefit and experience.” Ring did not answer the publication’s question about whether it dropped manual controls after the CBS demonstration.
Ring Drone Cam crashes raise control questions
An early unit crashed twice during a CBS News demonstration. Ring says customers will use autonomous routes, with no manual flight controls planned.
What the footage shows
The two incidents had different reported circumstances.
Ring reportedly attributed the first crash to a collision-avoidance malfunction.
The drone hit a wall after failing to respond to commands. Jamie Siminoff said it had lost internet connectivity.
Demo controls, planned routes
The early demonstration showed app-based manual piloting; Ring describes a different customer experience.
- Manual app controls were shown.
- The drone crashed twice.
- AI Pilot follows preset routes.
- Customer manual controls are not planned.
What buyers should know
A flying home camera depends on safe movement and a clear response when something goes wrong.
No manual fallback
Ring says customers will not be able to take over piloting.
Key details remain open
The report does not establish how the final product handles connection loss or obstacles.
Before launch
The report says the product is expected in January, without specifying the year or a confirmed release date.
Control Limits Shape Drone Safety
The footage draws attention to a practical distinction in how the device is intended to work: customers are not being offered a way to take over piloting if the drone behaves unexpectedly. Ring’s stated design instead depends on the AI Pilot’s autonomous routes, while Siminoff’s explanation of the second crash points to internet connectivity as another dependency, at least for the early unit shown.
That does not establish that manual controls would have prevented either crash. The demonstration shows the drone failing to respond to commands, but the available account does not establish whether a customer would have been able to regain control reliably, or whether manual input would have improved the outcome. It also does not show how the final product handles connection loss or collisions.
For prospective buyers, the difference matters because a camera drone moving around a home is not just a stationary security camera. Its usefulness depends on where it can travel and how it behaves when conditions differ from a preset route. Ring’s choice to exclude customer piloting may simplify the product’s intended operation, but it also means buyers should not expect a manual fallback based on the feature shown in this early demonstration.
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From Demo Controls to Preset Routes
The CBS News segment showed an early version of the Drone Cam, not a complete account of how the retail model will perform. Siminoff demonstrated controls in a mobile app, and Ling Kent attempted to fly the unit. The footage establishes that manual controls were available for that demonstration; it does not establish that they were planned as a customer feature at launch.
Ring’s later explanation emphasizes a different use: the drone would patrol designated points along routes programmed in advance. The company has described that autonomous approach as its preferred customer experience. The product was reported as expected to arrive in January, but the report does not specify the year, a precise release date, or whether the schedule has changed.
The two crashes also have distinct reported circumstances. Ring attributed the first to a collision-avoidance malfunction, according to CBS News. Siminoff attributed the second to lost internet connectivity and acknowledged that the drone did not perform its expected stop-and-land response. Those accounts should not be combined into a single confirmed technical cause.
““Yeah, so we can load manual controls.””
— Ring founder Jamie Siminoff, in the CBS News demonstration
Crash Causes and Product Changes
Several details remain unresolved. Ring has not publicly explained why the drone failed to avoid the second crash, beyond Siminoff’s statement that it lost internet connectivity. The company has not provided the first crash’s onboard recording to CBS News, according to the report, and no independent technical assessment of either incident is described.
It is also unclear whether the final product will respond reliably to a lost connection, how it will handle obstacles or other operating failures, and whether manual controls were removed before or after the CBS News demonstration. Ring did not answer the question about the timing of that decision. The footage alone does not establish that manual control would have avoided the crashes or that the retail model will reproduce the same failures.
What Ring Must Clarify Before Launch
The next milestone is the planned January launch, though the report gives no year or confirmed release date. Ring’s product information and any further demonstrations may clarify how the AI Pilot works, what happens when connectivity drops, and whether the drone can safely stop or land when it encounters a problem.
Until Ring provides those details, the clearest confirmed point for customers is that manual piloting is not planned as a customer feature. The company has not said whether it will release further technical information about the crashes or revise its launch plan.
Source: rss
Key Questions
Will customers be able to manually fly the Ring Drone Cam?
No, according to Ring’s stated launch plan. The company says the product will use AI Pilot to travel along pre-programmed routes and will not provide customers with manual flight controls.
What happened during the CBS News demonstration?
An early Drone Cam crashed twice while being manually piloted through an app. CBS News recorded the second incident, in which the drone hit a wall after failing to respond to controls.
Why did the drone crash?
The reported explanations differ by incident. Ring reportedly attributed the first crash to a collision-avoidance malfunction; Siminoff said the drone lost internet connectivity before the second. The available information does not independently establish the technical cause of either crash.
Would manual controls have prevented the crashes?
That is unknown. The footage shows the drone failing to respond to manual commands during the second incident, but it does not prove that manual control would have prevented either crash or that a customer could have taken over successfully.
When is the Drone Cam expected to launch?
The report says the product is expected in January, but it does not specify the year or a confirmed launch date.
Source: theverge.com
