Did VW Accidentally Invent the Stroller of the Future?

In one of their ads, VW Netherlands included a joke about a mother looking to buy a new baby stroller with automatic braking. The video was posted to their Facebook page, and a fan of the company commented that the idea was a good one.

The automaker then made a new ad, one where engineers borrow features from the VW Golf (namely adaptive cruise control and collision sensors) and build an autonomous stroller capable of rolling and stopping as it follows its owner. Whether this is a real prototype or a clever mock-up for an ad isn't entirely clear, but it does have us thinking: Is this the stroller of the future?

Running while your baby follows in a robot stroller 5 feet behind you may be a little counter-intuitive and it certainly won’t win you a Parent of the Year award, but the general idea is undoubtedly clever. Some parents may be apprehensive, but owning a stroller that is guaranteed not to roll into a car (or worse) would be an easy sell.

[h/t: Gizmodo]