A woman in China cooped up indoors to avoid the coronavirus (now named COVID-19 which stands for Corona Virus Disease 1) has resorted to the use of a remote-controlled (RC) car to help pick up food from the comfort of her own apartment.
The New York Post reports that Chen Tao, an avid RC enthusiast, attached a pair of action cameras to the vehicle while also modifying and adorning it with a trailer. Using the vehicle’s remote, she was able to drive it to a shop nearly 400 meters (1312 feet) away to collect a bag of steamed buns.
The woman made sure to write her mobile phone number on the car’s trailer so the shop owner could contact her and charge her electronically for the purchase.
When the car returned to Tao’s apartment, she sprayed it with disinfectant before bringing it, and the precious steamed buns, inside.
As the battery-powered toy car makes its way through the streets of Jinan in China’s Shandong province, some 850 km (528 miles) from the coronavirus epicenter of Wuhan, it’s hard not to notice how empty the streets are as locals have been urged to stay indoors to avoid the virus which has already killed more than 900 people and infected over 40,000 in mainland China itself. At least 25 countries have confirmed cases of coronavirus with both Hong Kong and the Philippines confirming at least one death each.
The virus is having significant impacts on the automotive industry with many companies, including Volkswagen and Hyundai, forced to close local and some international factories.