Ford Self-Braking Shopping Cart Is Some Kid's Nightmare

There’s no actual data as to how many shopping carts are used by kids – and at times adults - as oversized toys, nor are there any numbers detailing the carnage that follows in the wake of such an event.

What is known is that things tend to fall off shelves at a rapid rate when shopping carts start running amok. And Ford has a solution to stop that from happening.

From time to time, the carmaker’s European business pulls crazy stunts as a way to advertise various systems available of Blue Oval vehicles. Like say the Lane-Keeping Bed that uses technology to detect when someone goes beyond his or her allotted side and activates a conveyor belt, pulling them away.

That gizmo was an out-of-the-box-thinking demonstration of Ford’s lane keeping system, but when shopping carts are concerned, that won’t work. So engineers turned to the pre-collision assist that automatically brakes the car when detecting an obstacle.

By fitting sensors on a shopping cart, Ford created the Self-Braking Trolley: it can be used as any other wheeled cart, the difference being it can detect obstacles and stop before cans of beans are sent flying around.

“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,” said in a statement Anthony Ireson, Ford Europe marketing director.

For the time being the high-tech shopping cart is just a prototype and there are no plans to make it available to supermarkets.