SELF-DRIVING cars may take a while to arrive, but the self-driving suitcase is here now.

Some of the technologies used in autonomous cars have been adapted in products unveiled at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, to help travellers with the weighty problem of dealing with baggage.

The “robot suitcase”, from California-based start-up Travelmate, can be controlled with a smartphone app and can roll alongside its owner at speeds of up to 11kph, navigating around obstacles.

“This is really a robot that follows you around,” said Travelmate founder and president Maximillian Kovtun.

Travelmate designed the device – which integrates elements of artificial intelligence – to roll at a pace that matches that of the user, or it can be directed with the smartphone app in the same manner as a drone.

Priced at around US$1,100 (RM4,390), it is slated to roll out next month for the US market, and later in Europe and Japan.

A competing offering from ForwardX, a Chinese start-up with offices in California, is designed to be used with facial recognition, without the need for a smartphone application.

“It uses computer vision and a driving algorithm to have a clear path,” said founder Nicholas Chee, who showed a prototype at CES.

The ForwardX suitcase also has gesture-control technology, and can be immobilised to protect against theft.

Chee said he expected the launch to be in the middle of the year, at a price of under US$1,000.

Both Travelmate and ForwardX say their devices comply with US safety regulations because their lithium-ion batteries, banned in checked luggage, can be removed.

Also shown at CES was an auto-following suitcase from China-based 90FUN, which has been available in the Chinese market and is soon coming to America.

It uses self-balancing technology from personal transport maker Segway.

And finally, for the weariest of travellers, a luggage product called the Modobag, which lacks artificial intelligence, but offers a sizeable perk instead: as a ride-on suitcase that can carry its owner along with their clothes. – AFP, January 11, 2018.