WA RAC reveals brain-powered car

West Australia’s Royal Automobile Club (RAC WA) has revealed what it’s touting as the world’s first attention-powered car – a vehicle that will only run at full capacity when its driver is paying attention - in response to the state's alarmingly high rate of road fatalities.

Invented to highlight fatigue and distraction as major contributors to road deaths (inattention has been determined as a factor in 46 per cent of fatal crashes in Australia, making it comparable to speeding and drink driving), the system features a neuro headset that measures brain activity.

When custom software determines that the driver is not paying enough attention – when the brain drops out of the mentally engaged state required for driving – it communicates with the car to safely slow it down, alerting the driver to their lapse in concentration.

The technology has been installed into a Hyundai i40, which will only run at full capacity when the driver is paying attention.

RAC Executive General Manager Pat Walker said the system was developed to help tackle West Australia’s position as the state with the highest rate of fatality due to inattention, speed and drink driving.

“The impact of inattention is now comparable to the number of deaths and serious injuries caused by speed and drink driving, which are all contributors to WA consistently having the worst fatality rate of any Australian state,” he said.

“Over the past 20 years WA has gone from best in class to worst in class. Since 2006 we have consistently been above the national fatality rate and alarmingly more than half of fatalities in WA happen on our country roads. If WA’s fatality rate came down to the national rate, more than 45 lives would be saved each year.

The brain-powered Hyundai is fitted with an Emotiv EEG headset device similar to those used by wheelchair patients video gamers. It includes 14 sensors detecting electrical activity from the frontal, temple, parietal and perceptual areas of the brain, while the system also processes information from gyroscope, GPS and accelerometer devices to measure data such as head movement.

“The RAC is committed to saving lives on our roads and the Attention Powered Car will assist people to understand the importance of paying attention and what are the factors distracting us while we drive," said Walker.

“We are also highlighting the impact of how quickly we can lose concentration, causing lives to be lost and leaving families and friends to deal with the consequences of road trauma.

“As well as learning more about how we think and react in a vehicle, we hope this initiative will help West Australian drivers to acknowledge the fact that we often don’t pay enough attention behind the wheel in the way should."

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