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Parenting

17th Aug 2015

A self-driving buggy is an interesting idea, but it’s too good to be true. (Thankfully)

Sive O'Brien

There’s no doubt that the coach-built, silver-wheeled Millson Prince pram used for Princess Charlotte’s christening got people excited, but there’s a new buggy in town and this one pushes itself…

It all began when Volkswagen’s Dutch office asked its Facebook followers for suggestions on how the German car manufacturer could improve other products, apart from vehicles. After receiving a number of requests from parents, the company built a prototype self-driving stroller. The below video showcases the invention.

Before you get too excited (or alarmed), turns out the whole thing was, in fact, just a marketing stunt. Thankfully.

Volkswagen told Quartz, “The baby stroller in the commercial developed by Volkswagen Netherlands was not an autonomous concept or prototype but rather radio controlled. The commercial was a humorous way to highlight the assistance systems on Volkswagen models in the market. Unfortunately, all of the parents out there who were eager to see this in showrooms, will have to wait a little longer as there are no plans to develop or produce a production version.”

Call us old fashioned but we much prefer pushing a pram ourselves. Anyone who thinks the hands-free, self-driving stroller is a good idea, however, will have to stick to slings for now.

https://vimeo.com/134807048