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As every couple that shares a bed knows, there is an imaginary 50-yard-line down the middle of that bed, and both parties can get a good night's sleep if there are no advances or losses in territory. When one partner crosses that DMZ, unconsciously thrashing about in the throes of a spicy-Thai-food-driven nightmare, they're literally in for a rude awakening.
Admittedly it's not the world's most pressing problem. But Ford's designers and engineers had a bit of fun with the phenomenon by devising the "Lane-Keeping Bed," which uses the same lane-keeping sensors that are in their cars to monitor when one sleeper has crossed into another's "lane." Then a conveyor-belt-like surface corrects the situation:
Of course, technically speaking the system doesn't actually separate the partners; following the bed-correction, the one whose space has been intruded upon must still retreat, it's just that they now have more space to retreat to. But hey, we don't see GM, Toyota or Honda doing anything about this.
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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Ford (Yes, the Car Company) Invents a Conveyor-Belt-Based Bed for Couples
The function of the bed is simple and using a conveyor belt is smart. My concerns is what if you have two people with different weights, how will the bed know how to center the bed if one person weighs a lot more than the second person. The conveyor belt looks like it is moving quit fast and that can lead to people waking up or getting a freight. I think this is a cool design and I would like to see this as a product.
"When I grow up and get married I'm living alone!"
It looks like the person who invades the other side is the more likely to lose fingers to pinch injuries, so that's fair