You will still need to push the $3,800 electric-assist stroller

Even though it may sound absurd to some, pushing a pram around is quite a strenuous job, especially when the train is rough. It’s a full body workout to push two kids under four in my old Uppababy Vista, which weighed the same as an iceberg and had the turning circle of the Titanic. Canadian startup Startup Canada was founded to remedy this. GlüxKind has developed an electrically-assisted stroller that’ll make pushing easier, and can even drive itself, albeit only when your kid isn’t on board.

The GlüxKind Ella is the brainchild of Anne Hunger and Kevin Huang, a couple who were less than whelmed when looking for a stroller for their own daughter. Their idea was to create their own product by attaching an electric scooter to a regular stroller. From there, they began to develop their product. The device has three modes, the first of which is to add electric assist to the wheels as you’re pushing it around.

This felt very similar to an e-bike’s power boost when I tried it in a limited demo at CES. Although you still need to push the thing around, you can only exert a very minimal effort before it kicks in and helps. As well as easier forward motion, you’ll also find turning to be a lot snappier than you may expect, useful too when you’re trying to maneuver your rugrat in tight spaces. It’ll also prove useful when going uphill, or if you’re carrying lots of groceries in Ella’s surprisingly large cargo space.

I’m told that the battery will last for around eight hours of mixed use, and you’ll need to charge it at the end of every day, more or les.

The pram can be used to rock your baby to sleep. It can move backwards and forths about one foot. This, I’m sure, will be a godsend to parents who are otherwise praying for divine intervention at 3am as their precious child refuses to sleep. I’m aware that there are some safety caveats about using such a feature on a regular basis, but being able to call on the feature in a pinch will surely be an instant-sell to some harangued parents.

Self-driving is the last and most attractive mode. The stroller will move ahead of you by just a few feet. It’ll maintain power when going up hill, and brake so it stays close to you when you’re going down the other side. The system will not function if your child is placed in the seat and the pram does all the work. If the stroller chair and bassinet detect a child, the function will be blocked.

This product will likely be more expensive than most. Kickstarter’s first 100 units will cost $3,800. Once that early bird special is done with, the price is likely to climb a little higher, but for that you’ll also get built-in GPS so you can track where your pram is if you’ve asked friends and family to babysit. GlüxKind also has plans to build out a community feature to find and connect like-minded parents — the sort of whom are also prepared to spend north of four grand on a self-driving stroller.