One of the areas of travel tech that has kept at it the last couple of years and again made an appearance at CES is the auto-following luggage. Even with smart luggage manufacturers either shutting their doors or redoing their products to comply with airline regulations, this subset of tech luggage seems unwilling to go away. But, do we really want auto-following luggage?
Do We Really Want Auto-Following Luggage?
Link: Rover Smart Auto Suitcase
Let me say first off – I get it. If you have a lot of luggage to handle, maybe you are unable to pull much weight, maybe you have kids with you – it can be appealing to have at least one piece of your luggage just following behind you like an infinitely loyal dog. Recently, I had to wrestle several odd-shaped pieces of luggage through an airport and on-and-off shuttles – I get the vision!
But, is it something that is good for the airport environment to have a suitcase that is following you automatically? I will admit that the Cowarobot Rover Smart Auto suitcase does a pretty good job in the area of staying near you. The problem I foresee is just the pure congestion in large airports and having multiple robot suitcases like this.
That said, the Rover Smart Auto has a lot of very cool features that could make it a techy’s dream bag. I love the functionality and everything about it – just not sure if I want to see them rolling through airports!
If you are staying on one side and not moving around much, then it could work. But in busier airports, where it is necessary to move in and out of slower people when you are in a hurry, I think it is just going to be an annoyance. Yes, you can grab it and just walk with it but, then, why pay this price for such a bag if you will just walk with it (currently $489 on Amazon and shipping this month)?
I am all for travel tech that improves the entire experience but if suitcases like these become more mainstream, I think they are going to cause more problems than solve them. Again – for the person who cannot handle their own bag, this could be great. But I don’t know if I want to see these become a regular in all airports!
Of course – I would love to try it out for myself! 🙂
How about you? What are your thoughts about auto-following luggage?
I think it’s a fantastic idea that will fail utterly in real life.