Ford Creates A Self-Braking Shopping Cart

I’m not going to lie – when browsing through almost empty supermarkets or big retailers, I’ve been guilty of surfing around on my shopping cart and gliding across the isles, mostly because I still can’t adult properly. I know there’s some of you who have done the same.

Thankfully, I never bumped into anyone else, just inanimate objects that hurt my pride and bruised my cart-driving confidence, but I did witness some minor accidents happening, some of them at the hands of overzealous or just plain bored children.

To stop such accidents from happening and to further take away from my joy of shopping cart-gliding adventures, Ford created a futuristic-looking shopping cart with automatic braking.

The shopping cart features sensors that can detect obstacles and will automatically slow down in order to avoid slamming into them.

You won’t be surprised to find out that the technology comes from Ford’s driving aids, more exactly, from the company’s Pre-Collision Assist technology, which makes use of a front camera and a radar to detect vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists.

When the system detects any of them, it warns the driver. If the driver does not respond in due time, the vehicle applies the brakes automatically.

For the time being, Ford’s shopping cart is just a concept, so we won’t see it in stores any time soon and even if we do, you can bet I’ll completely avoid it and pretend it doesn’t exist.

But, even if it does come in the way of my shopping cart gliding antics, I do admit it’s quite interesting to see other innovative ways in which car technology can be used off the streets.