In the future, after our robot servants prepare our breakfast, we will sit in our self-driving cars to take our kids the park, where we will ride our personal transporters alongside their self-driving strollers. It’s a brave new world that awaits us, and Volkswagen is ready for it.
Well, sort of.
This video, produced by Volkswagen Netherlands, shows a stroller that appears to follow a father as he wanders around. Unfortunately, it turns out, it was just a well-executed marketing stunt. 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.
So while Volkswagen does not seem to have beaten Google—er, Alphabet—to the punch with a self-driving something, it’s definitely made us think: What else needs to be made autonomous for parents? Self-swinging baby rockers? Self-rotating baby mobiles? Maybe even baby’s first self-driving Cozy Coupe?
As companies work toward autonomous vehicles, and even self-flying drones that can avoid obstacles, we’ll certainly see more household products pop up with minds of their own. Volkswagen, however, may have other things to worry about right now.