Detecting a driver’s brain waves can cut braking distances

BBC : Benjamin Blankertz and his colleagues at the Berlin Institute for Technology have demonstrated in the lab that it’s possible to detect a driver’s intention to brake before he or she actually brakes. In their experiment, volunteers drove an arcade-like simulator and were given the task of keeping a fixed distance away from the car in front. A helmet studded with electrodes monitored their brain waves. Whenever the car in front braked, the helmet picked up a telltale signal that heralded the driver’s application of the brake pedal 130 milliseconds later. At 113 kilometers (70 miles) per hour, a delay of 130 ms corresponds to a length of 4 meters. If the helmet could be replaced with a more comfortable, less obtrusive device, brain-wave detection could provide a means to shorten stopping distances and avoid accidents, the researchers say.