Researchers in China have developed the technology to enable a car to be driven strictly by mind control. It is the hope of the research team that it will bring greater flexibility and freedom to disabled people in the near future. The scientists are from Nankai University, a research university located in the city of Tianjin on China’s northeast coast, and they are certain that they are the first in the world to develop a mind controlled vehicle.
The drivers will wear a head band type of device that measures the driver’s EEG brain output. In recent public tests, the researcher in the vehicle using the device could drive the car both forward and backward as well as lock and unlock all of the car’s doors. He did all this through just thinking about doing it. There are 16 translation sensors on the head set.
While the technology doesn’t allow for drivers to steer the vehicle, the researchers believe that the technology can be intertwined with present autonomous driving technology. Zhang Zhao, lead researcher on the project, said that, “The tester’s EEG signals are picked up by this brain signal reading equipment and transmitted wirelessly to the computer. The computer processes the signals to categorize and recognize people’s intentions and then translates them into control commands to the car. The core of the whole flow is to process the EEG signals, which is done on the computer.”
Duan Feng, and associate professor of engineering at Nankai said that, ” Driverless cars’ further development can bring more benefits to us since we can better realize functions relating to brain controlling with the help of the driverless car’s platform. In our project, it makes the cars better serve human beings.”
As far as their vision to help the disabled, Zhang continued to say that, “There are two starting points of this project. The first one is to provide a driving method without using hands or feet for the disabled who are unable to move freely; and secondly, to provide healthy people with a new and more intellectualized driving mode.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Reuters