Self-driving shoes are now a thing thanks to Japan
Kicking off your shoes without caring where they fall may finally be acceptable.
Have you ever worried about travelling to Japan and forgetting to respect the shoes-off nicety?
Probably not, right? Even so, Nissan has developed a solution: self-driving slippers that can "park" themselves in restaurants when you take them off. Seriously. The driverless (?) shoes will position themselves into a neat line near the door while you enjoy your meal.
The slippers are fitted with two wheels, a motor and sensors for parking. They are available to try at the ProPilot Park Ryokan, a traditional Japanese inn which is known for its views of Mount Fuji.
And it is not just the shoes. The seating pillows and tables are also capable of driving themselves back into the correct position. The hotel is part marketing and part attraction, built to show of the Nissan Leaf's auto-parking software.
"The self-parking slippers are meant to raise awareness of automated driving technologies and their potential, non-driving applications," Nissan spokesman Nick Maxfield said, according to the Independent. Nissan unveiled the tech in Leaf models in 2016.
Recent figures from Reuters revealed that men were more comfortable with self-driving cars than women. A study of 2,600 people in the US found that 38% of men would be comfortable giving up control of their vehicles to automation. Just 16% of women were happy to do the same.
Overall, about a quarter of respondents (27%) said they would feel safe in a driverless car. Some 67% said they would not travel unless there was a driver.
But will opinions differ between men and women on self-parking slippers? We're guessing they will be about the same: Very, very strange.