Looks like someone got quite inspired by X-Men's mutant abilities. A driving system has been developed that uses brain waves to direct vehicles.

It's not about self-driving vehicles anymore. A team of researchers from Nankai University in the north-eastern China developed a way to control the vehicles with sheer human mind. 

According to Reuters, the it took the team two years to develop the technology, which was first tested last November. Reuters also reports that by wearing brain signal-reading equipment, a driver is able to direct the car to go forward, backwards, come to a stop, and both lock and unlock the vehicle. And the car is able to do so without the driver ever moving hands or feet. 

Researcher Zhang Zhao explained that the equipment consists of 16 sensors that capture EEG (electroencephalogram) signals from the driver's brain. These are transmitted wirelessly into a specially designed computer program that chooses and translates relevant signals into orders, ''commanding'' the car what to do. 

The first thing that comes to mind once one hears of such technology, is how useful would it be for people with disabilities that can't physically operate a vehicle - and, in fact, that was the project's initial goal. Associate Professor Duan Feng, who was in charge of the project, however believes that this technology could be incorporated into driverless cars (such as Google Self-Driving Project).

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

Let's see what future brings, but great things await, that's for certain.

March 31, 2016 Driving photo: Profimedia

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