While many kids do like pushing grocery carts, they can get kind of over-enthusiastic about it, and often run into things as a result. It was with this supermarket hazard in mind that Ford recently created the one-off Self-Braking Trolley.
The trolley is equipped with sensors similar to those in Ford's Pre-Collision Assist system, which utilizes a forward-facing camera and radar to scan the road in front of the car. If the driver doesn't respond to warnings of impending collisions with pedestrians or other vehicles, the system automatically applies the brakes.
In the case of the trolley, the brakes are applied if it's about to hit things such as shelves, stacks of produce, or unwary customers. The system could also keep unmanned carts from rolling into vehicles in supermarket parking lots.
"Pre-Collision Assist technology can help our customers avoid accidents or mitigate the effects of being involved in a collision," says Anthony Ireson, director of marketing communications for Ford of Europe. "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 (demoed in the video below) is part of the ongoing Ford Interventions series of concepts, which is focused on "applying automotive expertise to solve the day-to-day problems we all face." Other examples have included a lane-keeping bed and a noise-cancelling dog kennel.
Source: Ford
Of course, someone will have to persuade the grocery chains to shell out the higher costs... and ...given the trolley theft problems (we've all seen them in the local water courses) I guess the next thing could be rogue dismantling for the clever bits to fit onto something else. Oh well the original idea was good.
It'd be nice if they actually made commercial products out of the other two. Can't see this one being commercially viable.
Further, this technology could be enabled to get the trolley to return to its parking bay where it could automatically recharge the batteries (wirelessly?). Given the number of trolleys I see left somewhere by thoughtless/ lazy customers, this would be a real boon for trolley collection workers. Press the button and follow me home, trolleys, like the Pied Piper of the supermarket.