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Would you trust a self-driving pram?

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An intelligent pram that starts rolling when you walk, increasing speed when you jog, and stops when you want to take a selfie. All without you having to touch it all. 

Claiming to solve "both parents' and babies' needs", SmartBe is the "first intelligent" baby stroller, following and responding to your movements. The carry cot is climatised, it has an automatic rocker and built-in music, and it reclines via your smartphone "remote".

It goes a step further, allowing you to activate an anti-theft lock and alarm which you control via the app on your smartphone. You could also watch your baby sleep on your phone using the stroller hood's built-in camera. Oh, and it will charge your phone and warm up baby's bottle too.

Here is how it works:

It sure is beautiful. But what do you think? Would you relinquish control of your baby's stroller? Do you think a battery-operated stroller is the future? And would you charge your phone so close to your baby's body?

Is this really necessary?

Firstly, a pram is already making your life easier - you don't have to carry your child. Not wanting to push it is the height of laziness to be honest. How hard is it to push a pram? Also, I am very concerned of the possibility of this thing veering off course while holding the very precious cargo that is my child.

The battery lasts for 6 hours but don't worry, you can still manually push it if this happens. Oh, the First World Problems of having to push your own pram. 

But, each to his own and if you're still interested in this futuristic pram then orders are being taken on the crowd-funding site IndieGogo. The first prams should be available in the US in December 2016.

You can get the basic pram (no tech) for a pledge of $399, and the full-monty multifunction and self-propelled bassinet for a $3,199 pledge. Shipping was not available to South Africa at the time of publishing. Maybe it can swim over by itself?  

Send your comments to chatback@parent24.com!

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