Ford adds Pre-Collision Assist car tech to a shopping cart
For the third product Ford developed as part of its recently launched 'Interventions' initiative to use automobile technology in non-automotive products, it applied Pre-Collision Assist technology, a safety feature that's available for most Ford models, to a shopping cart.
In December, Ford kicked off their 'Interventions' initiative, designed to apply automotive tech to products outside of the automobile industry. The first product unveiled was the Quiet Kennel, which took the Active Noise Cancellation tech from the Ford Edge and integrated it into a chic doghouse just in time for New Year's Eve fireworks. And in February, the Smart conveyor belt-equipped Bed was announced using the company's vehicle Lane-Keeping Aid to keep greedy sleepers on their side.
On Wednesday, the third member of the initiative was revealed, and this one is designed to make family grocery shopping trips less stressful.
Using Ford's Pre-Collision Assist, car technology that "uses a forward-facing camera and radar to detect vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists on the road, and automatically applies the brakes if the driver does not respond to warnings," Ford developed the Self-Braking Trolley.
In a similar fashion to vehicles, the shopping cart uses a sensor to scan for obstacles and automatically brake when a "potential collision is imminent."
Like the Quiet Kennel and the Smart Bed, the Self-Braking Trolley is simply a prototype, demonstrating how automotive expertise can be used to solve common day-to-day problems.
