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A self-driving pushchair is coming – but you'll need £2,700 and a lot of faith in tech

Could the Glüxkind Ella smart stroller finally outshine the celeb-approved Bugaboo?

A picture of the Glüxkind 'Ella' stroller, a self-driving pushchair. (Glüxkind)
The Glüxkind 'Ella' stroller is a £2,700 self-driving pushchair. (Glüxkind)

Every parent will know the pain of pushing a heaving buggy, stuffed with shopping, mountains of baby paraphernalia and, of course, a young child up a hill.

What if we told you there was a way to ease your pain... if you have a cool £2,700 to hand plus buckets of trust in technology?

A self-driving, hands-free pushchair has launched, designed using AI to be able to detect any obstacles on the pavement or area where you are using it.

The brainchild of Canadian startup Glüxkind, the Ella smart stroller has been created to give “every parent a great child rearing experience”.

It features an electric motor, similar to those found on an e-bike, which will help it – and parents – get up hills and it will automatically break when going downhill.

It also has an automatic parking brake that comes on when it is still, and sensors on the handle to make sure it is being held by someone when there is an infant being pushed.

Cameras dotted around the frame of the pushchair monitor obstacles and surrounding objects and alert parents to any potential collision dangers.

Additionally, an app connects the chair to your phone so it can be easily located if it becomes lost. Or, more likely given the price tag, stolen.

Other techie features include a “Rock-My-Baby”, designed to lull a baby to sleep, along with a built-in white noise feature. White noise is said to calm infants and allow them to fall asleep faster and is a sleep aid most modern-day parents swear by.

While the pushchair is not yet ready to buy, the company is already taking pre-orders for the pushchair, and said it plans to start deliveries to the US and Canada in April, before expanding to Europe in 2024.

The name of the company, “Glüxkind”, was inspired by the German word “Glückskind”. In German, “Glück” means lucky and “Kind” is the word for “child”.

“For a lucky child, everything turns out better than ‘just fine’. The word Glückskind is especially common in fairytales. We want parents to experience just as many magical moments with their little ones while they are out and about as they do during story time,” the brand's website says.

Read more: Kendall Jenner's £6K coat mocked

The £2,700 price tag is staggering – particularly during a cost of living crisis and when so many secondhand pushchairs can be found on Facebook Marketplace and the like – but, it’s not uncommon for new parents to spend large sums on fancy strollers.

However, one influencer has said she will not be swayed by the new pushchairs. Mother of seven, Jenny Reimold, told Page Six: “I can’t see [myself] spending that much on the Tesla of strollers. I’d rather go on a Caribbean vacation.”

Watch: Homemade spinning pushchair designed for triplets spotted in China's Zhuhai