Chinese researchers develop a way to control cars with their brain

Self-driving vehicles are one thing, but a team of researches from China have taken things one step further and found a way to control vehicles with their mind.

The team from Nankai University in Tianjin, China first demonstrated their work in mid-November, after working on it for two years, as reported by Reuters. Using a wireless headset that utilizes 16 EEG (electroencephalogram) sensors, and a program developed to choose and translate the necessary signals, a car can be told to move forwards, go backwards, stop, and lock/unlock itself.


The project was initially started in an attempt to help those with disabilities that can't steer a vehicle, but Associate Professor Duan Feng, who led the project, believes it can be incorporated into driverless cars, like the ones made by Google.

"Driverless cars' further development can bring more benefits to us, since we can better realize functions relating to brain [control] with the help of the driverless cars' platform," said Feng. "In the end, cars, whether driverless or not, and machines are serving [the people]. Under such circumstances, people's intentions must be recognized. In our project, it makes the cars better serve human beings."

As for the car used during the reveal, there are no plans for it to go into production.

Sounds quite amazing. But what happens when you start thinking about random stuff while driving? :P