Amazon is launching a new Ring security camera that’s fixed on top of a flying drone.
Called the Ring Always Home Cam, it’s an autonomous indoor security camera that can fly inside your home and record footage of multiple viewpoints. Users set a path for the device to fly throughout the home. When the device isn’t in the air, it locks into a dock that blocks the camera, in an effort to assuage privacy concerns.
Amazon unveiled the device during its virtual hardware event on Thursday alongside a slew of new products. The company announced upgraded Echo and Echo Show models, new Ring security cameras for cars and launched its video game streaming service, Luna.
Ring, acquired by Amazon in 2018, has tackled multiple areas of the smart security market, launching connected doorbells and smart home cameras that allow people to remotely check in on their homes.
Jamie Siminoff, Ring’s founder, wrote in a blog post that the Always Home Cam will allow people to monitor multiple areas of their home with just one device, instead of purchasing several cameras. The drone is connected to a Ring Alarm, the company’s smart home security system. If the system detects suspicious activity, the Always Home Cam automatically flies over “to see what’s happening.”
Ring devices have provided Amazon another avenue to draw customers in deeper to its ecosystem, integrating them with its Alexa virtual assistant. But the business has also been beset with privacy concerns, following controversy over Ring’s decision to work closely with police departments to help investigate crimes. Lawmakers have increasingly stepped up their scrutiny of Ring and what customer video footage its employees have access to.
Siminoff said the Always Home Cam was built with “privacy and security top of mind.” Ring said the device only records when it’s in flight and its motors are loud enough so that users can hear it move throughout the home.
“It cannot be manually controlled, ensuring that it will only record and see what is important to you,” Siminoff added.
The Always Home Cam will be available in 2021 and costs $250.