Almost all of us have enjoyed pushing grocery carts, right? However, kids do tend to get a bit overexcited about it and end up running into other things. With this supermarket risk in mind, Ford has created a Self-Braking Trolley!
The Self-Braking Trolley by Ford comes equipped with sensors that can be found in Ford’s Pre-Collision Assist system. Ford’s Pre-Collision Assist system makes use of a camera that is facing forward and radar for scanning the road in front of it. If the driver doesn’t respond to warnings of approaching collisions with vehicles or pedestrians, the system employs the use of the brakes on its own thus bringing the car to a halt.
For the Self-Braking Trolley, the brakes come into play when it is about to hit things including stacks of produce, unwary customers, or shelves. The system can also be employed for making sure that unmanned carts don’t end up rolling into the vehicles in supermarket parking lots.
Anthony Ireson, director of marketing communications for Ford of Europe, said, ‘Pre-Collision Assist technology can help our customers avoid accidents or mitigate the effects of being involved in a collision. We thought that showing how similar thinking could be applied to a shopping trolley would be a great way to highlight what can be a really useful technology for drivers.’
The Self-Braking Trolley can be seen in action in the video below. It is a part of the Ford Interventions series of concepts that is ongoing as of now. The Ford Interventions series is aimed at ‘applying automotive expertise to solve the day-to-day problems we all face.’ Other products that have come from this series include a lane-keeping bed and a dog kennel that cancels the noise. What do you think of the Self-Braking Trolley and Ford Interventions series? Do let us know!