Nissan Debuts 'ProPILOT' Self-Driving Chair (pcmag.com) 48
jasonbrown writes from a report via PC Magazine: The Japanese automaker Nissan this week debuted what it's calling the ProPILOT Chair -- an autonomous chair that automatically queues for you while you sit back and relax. With its built-in cameras, the high-tech chair "detects and automatically follows the chair ahead of it, maintaining a fixed distance and traveling along a set path." Standing (or sitting) in line has never been so much fun. "Nissan drew inspiration for this new chair from its ProPILOT autonomous driving technology, which has been available in the company's Serena minivan in Japan since August," the report adds. "The ProPILOT technology allows the vehicle to maintain a safe distance between the car ahead, and ensures that it stays in the center of its lane." While the product appears to be a marketing stunt, Nissan is actively looking for restaurant partners in Japan who want to offer this technology to their customers. Japanese restaurants can tweet their name and website along with the hashtags #NissanProPilotChair #Wanted in an effort to be outfitted with the technology. You can watch the joyful and jazzy launch video here.
Wow (Score:2)
finally some device which you can use to wait for the new apple iphone!
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Wow? WALL-E!!! (Score:2)
Human blob of motorized screen-junkie, full of HFC, HERE I COME!
http://the-void.co.uk/wp-conte... [the-void.co.uk]
Learning from queue implementations in CS (Score:1)
Wouldn't it be simpler to have normal chairs and move the head and the tail of the queue, as in a circular buffer [wikipedia.org], rather than moving all the chairs? Of course, that would require the queue to be somewhere else than leading to the thing people are queueing for...
Re: (Score:3)
Of course some venues (certain restaurants, clubs, Apple stores) want a highly visible queue outside, it's good avertising.
Re: (Score:2)
Or do what some restaurants already do (I first saw this in Tokyo): they hand out a small pager-like device that buzzes when your turn comes, as well as (an estimated) 5 minutes beforehand. No need to stand or sit anywhere in particular, you can go to a nearby bar for drinks while you wait for your table.
That has been basically everywhere for basically forever. The early devices probably were pagers internally. What I've seen used in the USA mostly has been drinks coasters that flash and maybe beep, rather than vibrating pagers that might scuttle off of a table. They're often used to let people in a bar know when space has opened up in a restaurant. They've fallen out of favor, though, and most places just use the old-fashioned method of putting names on a list and then calling them. There's nothing to stea
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah I don't see them much anymore, come to think of it. Most restaurants I go to these days seem to use the "reservation or GTFO" queueing mechanism, with maybe 1 or 2 walk-on parties waiting for a table. Not worth investing in beeping coasters or self driving chairs for.
With the amount of chain restaurants having exploded, I think that more customers find a wait unacceptable - instead of waiting, they can just cross the parking lot to one of four other restaurants. With most restaurants serving largely the same, there's little incentive to wait.
Back on topic, I see these chairs being more useful for amusement parks (with or without velociraptors), schools and nursing homes.
Re: (Score:2)
With most restaurants serving largely the same, there's little incentive to wait.
Really? Please tell us which Subway stores sell Big Macs, which Wendy's stores sell seafood, which Arby's sell bloomin' onions, or which Denny's sell sushi.
Re: (Score:2)
Really? Please tell us which Subway stores sell Big Macs, which Wendy's stores sell seafood, which Arby's sell bloomin' onions, or which Denny's sell sushi.
Two of these don't have any wait-to-get-seated, as they are fast food restaurants.
But anyhow, whether the details and naming of the food differs, it is to large extents the same. The diversity is minimal in American restaurants. Customers aren't willing to try new things, and the restaurants that try either have to revert to the standard pseudo-Italian and American standards like steaks and burgers, and if there's fish, it's breaded and with lemon.
Don't expect big differences. None of them will serve bla
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
Or use a token- or ticket-based system. Then everyone can wait however they like, be it sitting, standing or walking, and when their turn comes they just deposit their token or throw away their ticket.
And lines just got twice as long... (Score:1)
Even while maintaining a respectable amount of personal space, a standing line will fit way more people in a given amount of space than this system. In a place as overpopulated as Japan I'd think that'd be a dealbreaker.
Aaaand that's how the British Empire started. (Score:4, Funny)
You will NOT mess with our queueing protocol, you bloody foreigners. We stand in line and we tut and shake our heads until you die of embarrassment if you try to break in line or reserve a spot or otherwise fail to get to the back of the queue then shuffle forward in an orderly manner, complaining about everything as we do so. This is how we've done things since 1066 and we haven't been successfully invaded since (the Channel Islands don't count, since they're practically French and only really serve as a setting for Bergerac and VAT avoidance).
It is our burden so help us God to teach the savages of the world how to queue properly.
Re: (Score:2)
Oh pshaw! This is going to help automate turning people into Brits worldwide. They can't help but be British when robotic chairs force them to queue correctly. You don't think MI6 infiltrated Nissan HQ to put this plan in motion?
5 years from now everyone will drink tea, love dogs and going to the pub for a pint. The world will drive on the left and Lion Bars and Kendal Mint cakes will be sold in every country on earth. Citizens of earth, prepare to start drinking your ale at the correct temperature of
Chindogu (Score:3)
This is somehow cool and would definitly have some great novelty factor. And is completely useless at the same time:
It's a perfect Chindogu [wikipedia.org].
Re: Chindogu (Score:2)
Wall-E, here we come! (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
yup
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22b... [duckduckgo.com]
No thanks, I'll pass this one out ... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Thank you /. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
But will the chair (Score:2)
Great, a chair to wait in line for me!
But will the chair work in the rain? If it skips the line, who is responsible, me or Nissan; what if there is a collision with a person sitting in a manually operated chair?
Finally, who is going to trust a chair that operates itself. People aren't going to want to give up the right to sit manually.
We're one step closer (Score:5, Funny)
This is looking more accurate every day [youtu.be]
Re: (Score:2)
Nissans ProPILOT system is actually very disappointing. It only works between 30 and 100 km/h, so it's basically useless. The two times when you want auto-steering/adaptive cruise control are when in stop-start traffic below 30 kph and when cruising on highways at over 100 kph. The speed limit in the UK and most of Europe is around 120-130 kph, for example.
Nissan really seem to have been caught out by their competitors lately. Their Leaf electric vehicle has a 30kWh battery, but for about 10% more money the
Re: (Score:2)
shakes head (Score:2)
As we move another step closer to Wall-E world....
I would like (Score:2)
I would like to have a "self driving" wagon that would follow me (or a BT beacon in my pocket) that I could use to walk or bike to the store and get groceries with.
My back is not what it used to be and carrying a large amount of groceries (especially kitty litter) is hell for my lower back if it is more than a few miles. Also, all the personal shopping carts I have used are clearly designed for someone a foot shorter than me as I have to hunch over just to pull or push the thing.
Seems excessive (Score:2)
Shades of Wall-E (Score:2)
It looks like the developers were fans of the animated movie Wall-E. A population of huge fatties bound in chairs would be easily controlled. Just add a few stairs here and the to restrict general access and Voila' a flock of sheep to be herded by a little herd-bot.
The state-of-the-art in self-driving (Score:2)
This isn't what I was imagining (Score:2)