Researchers in China have unveiled a car that can be controlled simply by the mind, according to a Reuters report. A research team from Nankai University in Tianjin helped developed the car, which is the first of its kind. The car works by capturing EEG (electroencephalogram) signals from the driver's brain. It comes with 16 sensors to covert these signals into commands to drive the car. According to Reuters, the driver needs to wear brain signal-reading equipment following which one can control the car to go forward, backwards, come to a stop, lock and unlock vehicles without actually moving their hands or feet. It took two years for the researchers to develop the driverless car and was built with an initial idea of helping disabled people who are unable to drive. Researcher Zhang Zhao told the news agency, "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 intention, then translates them into control command to the car. The core of the whole flow is to process the EEG signals, which is done on the computer." While the idea of mind-controlled cars may sound straight out of science-fiction, it should be noted that the car can only be driven in a straight line.
