Volkswagen built a Star Trek captain’s chair that goes 12mph

Are you proud of your office chair? Does it complete your gaming battlestation perhaps? Prepare to be filled with seething jealousy when you see what Volkswagen Norway has created.

As a marketing exercise, the automaker claims to have built an office chair that not only looks worthy of a Star Trek captain but also can drive around the office on its own five wheels — at speeds of up to 20 kilometers per hour (roughly 12mph), blisteringly fast for a seat, much less one with several swiveling wheels.

The company says it can travel a distance of 12 kilometers (roughly 7.5 miles) on its swappable battery.

That’s not all: it’s got more amenities than my last car, with 360-degree collision avoidance sensors, a backup camera with full guidance, a heated embroidered seat, party lights, a touchscreen display, a USB charger, and a tow hitch. LED headlights, a seatbelt, and a horn come standard. There’s even a “trunk” (a pocket, anyhow) with 0.17 cubic feet of space for documents and / or a laptop.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes video on how it was created, including some footage of the final product. It looks like it started as a humble hoverboard bolted to an office chair and grew into something dreamy from there.

Assuming all of this is real, of course. Volkswagen has a recent history of lying to people. This time, the company seems to be fairly transparent that it’s a one-off marketing stunt, while also suggesting that “it will be available for test drives at various locations.” Hopefully that means citizens of Norway will soon be able to prove its capabilities.

Or, they could just send one to The Verge for a few days... we’d be quite happy to take it for a spin.