Designed to negotiate queues on behalf of its occupant, Nissan’s ProPilot Autonomous Chair promises to spare users the hassle of standing in line.
Named after the brand’s autonomous driving technology, which has been available on the Serena in Japan since August, it works in a similar way, by detecting and automatically following chairs in front of it, and maintaining a fixed distance while travelling along a set path.
“The ProPilot Chair appeals to anyone who has queued for hours outside a crowded restaurant: it eliminates the tedium and physical strain of standing in line. The same user-friendly philosophy underpins Nissan’s ProPilot autonomous driving technology, which was designed to ease driver workload by assisting with the most tiring and repetitive aspects of driving in heavy highway traffic“, the automaker writes.
Before making it available for consumers, Nissan is making sure that the chair gets a fair share of real-world testing, and for that, it allows restaurants across the Land of the Rising Sun to apply for the use of chairs until December 27, by tweeting their name, webpage and the hastags #NissanProPilotChair #Wanted.
Selected restaurants will receive a batch of chairs in 2017, but until then, those interested in the technology can visit the public gallery at the company’s Global Headquarters in Yokohama, from September 29 through October 2, where five of the chairs will be exhibited.
This isn’t, however, Nissan’s first attempt at making clever chairs, as it follows the Intelligent Parking Chair concept, inspired by the park assist technology that allows drivers to easily park their vehicles using automatic steering, which was unveiled earlier this year.
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