Mercedes-Benz Is Experimenting With Mind Control in Vehicles

While self-driving cars are all the hype these days Mercedes is exploring something brand new. Controlling your car using your thoughts. Drivers will be able to change settings as they drive by staring at light dots and thinking about them.

Personally I have a hard time seeing how this is actually practically useful and anything more than marketing gimmick. But you have to hand it to them, it’s a new idea.

Concept vehicles demonstrate what could be possible in the future rather than what will be in next year’s vehicles, and the Vision AVTR is exactly that. There’s no wheel, buttons, or dials inside the car, just smooth surfaces capable of acting as a display. Interacting with the car’s systems will be achieved through a brain-computer interface (BCI).

Mercedes Benz

You would be wearing the headgear in the above picture, and after a short calibration you would be able to control features of the car with it. Interfaces like this aren’t new, but using them in a car certainly is.

Light dots are projected on to the digital dashboard, which the driver can focus on to trigger a specific action. The BCI device detects which light dot is the focus and initiates the desired response.

However, it seems to me that eye tracking would be a better way to go. And if you were wondering, you won’t actually be able to steer the car with your mind, yet.

Article by Beatrice Persson

Beatrice Persson is an experienced blogger and consumer electronics industry analyst since 2014. In addition to Gadgetzz she has worked for many outlets providing input on the latest trends and gadgets.