A Chinese university is literally harnessing mental powers to design and develop a self-driving vehicle. However, unlike the models being tested by Google, Toyota, Tesla and Nissan, the one being perfected at the Chinese university uses not just computers but the driver’s brain to command the car.

The brain-powered vehicle being developed by researchers at the Tianjin-based Nankai University has a headgear made up of 16 electroencephalogram (EEG) sensors that detect brain activity when worn by the driver. The sensors send signals to the computer which analyses and deciphers the brain signals by translating it into relevant automotive commands, reports CNET.

So far, the tests involves making the vehicle drive in a straight line with the use of brain power. Duan Feng, project leader and associate professor at the university’s College of Computer and Control Engineering, says the vehicles was designed with the aim of giving physically handicapped people the capability to drive.

The car’s design would provide such people a driving method without using hands or feet as well as to make available a new and more intellectualised driving mode for healthy people.

So far, there is no plan yet to mass-produce the brain-powered vehicle. The research team has been working on the car for the past two years, according to Reuters. Duan explains that concentration would only be needed when there is a need to change the car’s moving status such as lane changes or turns, allaying fears of potential vehicular accidents resulting from the driver being distracted while driving.

Duan points out, “In the end, whether driverless or not … 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.”

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