From self-driving taxis to autonomous chairs.

Nissan's latest invention, self-driving chairs designed for use in restaurants, literally does the queueing for customers.

For Singaporeans who love eating but loathe queueing, this is a godsend.

How? The chairs are equipped with cameras that senses the chair in front, following it to the front of the line. When the person in front gets up to enter the restaurant, the empty seat automatically moves to the back of the line to welcome a new customer.

Hard to imagine? It's almost like a sushi conveyor belt:

There are other novel applications:

Designed to eliminate the dullness and tedium of standing in line, the offer to sit in line "appeals to anyone who has queued for hours outside a crowded restaurant," Nissan said.

Named the ProPILOT chair, the technology used is similar the one in the Nissan Serena, a semi autonomous driving, single lane system that follows the car ahead and is able to brake and steer on its own.

Earlier this year, Nissan also revealed autonomous office chairs that push themselves back in place with a single clap.

But unlike the self-driving office chairs that will not be made commercially available anytime soon, interested restaurants in Japan can now apply for the ProPilot chair service with Nissan. Selected restaurants will be installed with the self-driving chairs in 2017.

With any luck, the chairs will be available in Singapore in the next few years too -- and we'll all be a little happier queueing for our favourite food.

But the debate on autonomous vehicles (and now chairs) continue. Are they really a big deal? Do they make our lives better or do they just make us fatter lazier?

Just like in the animated film Wall-E, will our future be a dystopian reality, with overweight humans seated on autonomous chairs and vehicles, never to set a foot on the ground again?

Only time will tell, but it seems like we are now a few steps closer to that reality.

Top image is a screenshot from Nissan's ProPILOT chair video

More on autonomous vehicles:

Are self-driving cars really such a big deal?

People in the One-North area can start taking driverless taxis from today

Images and gifs from Nissan unless specified otherwise

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