BERLIN — Tired of spinning that steering wheel? Try this: German researchers have developed a technology that lets drivers steer cars using only their eyes.
Raul Rojas, an artificial-intelligence researcher at Berlin’s Free University, said Friday that the technology tracks a driver’s eye movement and steers the car in whatever direction the driver is looking.
Rojas and his team presented the technology-packed prototype under a clear blue sky at an airport in the German capital. The Dodge Caravan crisscrossed the tarmac at the abandoned Tempelhof Airport, its driver using his line of sight to control the car. The car’s steering wheel was turning as if guided by ghostly hands.
The technology called eyeDriver lets the car drive up to 31 mph. “The next step will be to get it to drive 60 miles per hour,” Rojas said.
Ultimately, however, the Mexican-born researcher is aiming for even more: “The biggest challenge is of course to drive in a city with pedestrians and lots of obstacles.”
However, it remains unclear when — or if — the technology will be commercialized as questions about safety and practicability abound: What about looking at a cute girl next to the road for a few seconds? Not to mention taking phone calls or typing a text while driving.
But the researchers have an answer: “The Spirit of Berlin” is equipped with GPS navigation and scores of cameras, lasers and scanners. It can drive itself.
To demonstrate the car’s autonomy, Rojas at one point jumped in front of the car — which was at that moment driving at perhaps 10 mph — and the Dodge was immediately stopped by the cameras that had detected the obstacle.
