Nissan's ProPILOT Chair
Nissan has been applying technology used in its cars in everyday items to make life a little bit easier. The latest gadget to come out of this is the autonomous chair. Designed to take the monotony and physicality out of queueing, the ProPILOT chair uses cameras and sensors to keep you in line comfortably.
With a sensor to keep your chair and the next one the same distance away from each other, and to make sure that you’re kept on a specific path, these self-propelling robotic chairs make queueing for your favourite “no reservation” restaurant less of a bore.
It uses the same technology that the redesigned Nissan Serena uses to help keep it in the middle of the lane and to maintain a safe distance from the car in front. Nissan have described these two aspects as “the most tiring and repetitive aspects of driving in heavy highway traffic”. So, in other words, Nissan’s mission is to take the boring bits out of driving, leaving you with the fun bits.
"The ProPilot chair appeals to anyone who has ever spent hours standing in line," said Nissan. It "automatically queues on behalf of the occupant, sparing them the hassle of standing in line."
Restaurants in Japan have until the 27th of December to apply to Nissan if they want autonomous queueing chairs outside their shop front in 2017.
These chairs could also be used in museums and art galleries, and may also be helpful for the elderly or disabled in bank or building society settings.
While you might be thinking that this seems all a bit too Wall-E, then you may be happy to note that carmakers have their sights set on solving future mobility in a broad sense, i.e. providing solutions for an aging population, as opposed to a future where no one walks any more.