Important Innovations

Self-Braking Shopping Cart Source:  Ford Europe No More Runaway Carts at the Grocery Store Runaway shopping carts pose a danger to cars and customers at grocery stores.  Ford has invented a self-braking shopping cart that stops automatically to prevent damage. Pre-Collision Assist System The cart has a version of Ford's Pre-Collision Assist system. In cars, the system has a forward-facing camera and radar to detect vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists on the road and automatically applies the brakes if the driver doesn't respond to warnings.  The new shopping cart has a sensor to scan for people and objects and applies the brakes when a potential collision is detected. Ford says the self-brakeing cart can help prevent damage to cars, store shelves and customers.  They add it will help make grocery shopping less stressful for parents of little children. Prototype & Intervention Ford says one of the reasons they designed the cart was to demonstrate how important Pr