A self-driving pram that costs £2,740 is available for pre-order

Fortunately, it won’t speed off by itself with a baby inside.
It may not be the best-looking pram but it is definitely practical
Glüxkind
Saqib Shah4 January 2023

If you’re getting tired of pushing your baby around, help is on the way. A Canadian startup has developed a self-driving pram that can manoeuvre itself completely hands-free.

The battery-powered Ella stroller is currently available to pre-order for an eye-watering $3,300 (£2,740) and a $200 (£166) reservation fee, with deliveries slated for April. But you’ll have to hurry, as there were only six left at the time of writing. Clearly, the pram is selling like hot cakes, but it may also raise alarm bells for most parents and onlookers.

Though it may sound like a recipe for disaster, thankfully the driverless mode won’t activate if a baby is inside the pram. Still, witnessing a phantom pram wheeling itself down the street sounds like something out of Ghostbusters. Of course, no parent in their right mind was ever going to let the stroller simply glide off with their tyke inside, even if the feature was readily available.

Jokes aside, the pram would come in handy of course, it works well. Like most modern cars, it features adaptive push and brake assistance for when you need help pushing it uphill (similar to peddle assist on an e-bike), or stopping while going downhill, or simply when it is weighed down with groceries. While a dual-motor system is on-hand for when you need to take it off-road and on to rougher terrain.

You needn’t worry about losing your grip either, as the buggy can apparently sense the distance to the pusher and automatically apply the brakes if you get left behind. Similarly, a multi-level braking system can halt the pram if left unattended.

Particularly useful are the onboard sensors that alert the person who’s pushing it when encountering obstacles or potential dangers, such as approaching cars, bikes, or scooters.

The autonomous tech also powers a “Rock-My-Baby” mode that gently moves the pram back and forth to help your little one get to sleep. Ella also packs onboard sensors that can alert whoever is pushing it to oncoming obstacles. All told, the pram weighs 30 pounds (13.6 kg) and can last between six to eight hours on a single charge, approximately 32km, with three hours required for a full charge.

Ella is the brainchild of Glüxkind, a Canadian baby technology startup founded in 2020 by Anne Hunger and Kevin Huang shortly after they became parents for the first time.

As kooky as it may seem at first glance, the pram isn’t that different from some of the tech already out there. In Korea, for instance, LG developed an autonomous trolley that could follow shoppers around a supermarket or airport. US shopping giant Walmart was also believed to be working on similar tech back in 2016.

Perhaps one day there will be a legion of people walking around, playing on their phones, as their shopping trollies and prams trail behind. Or maybe even a James Bond-style buggy, with lots of gadgets. Watch this space!

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