The Jaguar Land Rover ‘Sixth Sense’: The Car That Will Read Your Mind
Latest News and Trends • 15th Jul, 15
Let’s just be honest with ourselves – we all knew that it was only a matter of time before someone built a car which could read minds, right? Well, that’s exactly what Jaguar is doing by helping its vehicles develop a sixth sense which will measure how well drivers are concentrating through their brainwaves. The aim of all of this is to reduce the number of accidents which are caused by drivers who are either distracted or stressed and are for some reason failing to concentrate on the road ahead.
This makes use of advanced technology from sports, medicine, and aerospace in order to monitor the heart rate of the driver along with respiration, fatigue, lack of concentration, and levels of brain activity to identify stress. Taking things even further, the UK-based researchers of Jaguar are looking into methods and any other innovations which would reduce the amount of time that the driver’s eyes are off the road while driving. Touchscreens have been added in which will predict which button you want to press while your fingers are in mid-air. There’s even a new vibrating and pulsing accelerator pedal which communicates any hazards to the driver.
Not wanting to make use of the method which involves sensors attached to a headband, Jaguar Land Rover is investigating a method that is already being used by NASA in order to develop a pilot’s concentration skills, as well as by the US bobsleigh team to improve both concentration and focus. A spokesman of Jaguar shared:
“The human brain continually generates four or more distinct brainwaves at different frequencies. By continually monitoring which type of brainwave is dominant, an on-board computer could potentially assess whether a driver is focused, daydreaming, sleepy, or distracted”.
If brain activity indicates that the driver is daydreaming or not concentrating on the road, they plan to make the steering wheel or pedals vibrate to raise their awareness and get them to re-engage with driving. During user trials, it was proven that the mid-air feature will increase the speed of successful button selection by 22%. This will then reduce the amount of time which the driver will be looking at the screen and have their eyes off the road. Once a car this amazing has been produced, there’s really no telling what could come next. We don’t know about you, but we’re definitely excited!