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A Car You Can Drive With Your Thoughts
An anonymous reader writes "German researchers have demonstrated a car that can be driven with brain power alone. In the video, a driver wears an EEG head cap, which records brain activity. Software converts the neural signals into steering and acceleration commands, feeding the data into the car's drive-by-wire system. The brain-car interface, which the researchers call the 'BrainDriver,' is far from being commercially viable. But it could one day allow disabled and paralyzed people to gain more mobility. It could also, the researchers say, help people control autonomous vehicles, like a future driverless cab; just by thinking, passengers would tell the cab where to go."
...when the driver spots a totally hot jogger on the sidewalk.
Perfect. Now we just need drivers with brains.
Family is in the car. Keep your breathing steady. Don't think about the red light district. Don't think about the red light district. For fuck's sake don't think about the red light district. Or that apartment on the other side of town. Don't think about it. Don't think about it. The mall, man, get a grip on yourself. Think about the mall. Just focus on the mall. *bead of sweat*...
'This is very important, Mr. Gant, you must think in German. You can't think in English and transpose it. You must think in German. Do you think you can do that, Mr. Gant?'
I really don't want a car that responds to my brain directly. One of the great things about current vehicles is that nodding off at the wheel doesn't mean certain doom when you start dreaming of flying. What about day-dreamers? There's a reason we have bodies, and I think it's because being able to move things with your mind would mean that on an off-day you'd accidentally turn your brain into a pretzel (which I'm fairly certain is an unsupported configuration).
Inanimate objects are wonderfully forgiving.