If the car manages to live down its association with the combustion engine, then it will have a very bright future. And in fact, everyday there seems to be a new story about a dazzling new innovation in the world of cars. The latest is a vehicle from the Freie Universiat Berlin, which can be controlled entirely by the mind. That’s right – a car entirely controlled by brain waves. While I must admit that Professor Raul Rojas must be having a lot fun testing this new technology on the site of the old Templehof Airport in Berlin, I can’t help wanting to urge them - “first call breakdown specialists Start Rescue!”
Danger from crashing aside, the new innovation is pretty impressive. The scientists used electroencephalogram sensors to measure the subject’s brainwaves when they were requested to think about certain driving related commands, such as ‘brake’ or ‘turn right’. This process enabled the researchers to train a computer to interpret these waves into driving manoeuvres. An interface was developed to connect this computer system to the key parts of a car, namely the steering and the accelerator – and of course the brakes.
It seems the scientists were amazed and delighted by the results; the only glitch was a minor delay between the ‘thought’ and the corresponding action. It will surely be some time before this technology becomes anywhere near reliable, but it does give us a taste of the exciting science fiction direction that the motor car is travelling in.
But I have to admit, I wouldn’t be so keen to see such technology on the roads today. Just a single angry or erroneous thought could see a pile up of unimaginable proportions. Exciting stuff, but those Germans need to get a handle on the technology first.
Breakdown Cover from 
