Hands-free car steered by driver’s eyesight

SCIENTISTS yesterday unveiled a car that can be steered by a driver’s eyes.

Raul Rojas, an artificial intelligence researcher at Berlin’s Free University, said the technology tracks a driver’s eye movement and in turn, steers the car.

The technology-packed prototype was revealed at an abandoned airport in the German capital.

The Dodge Caravan criss-crossed the tarmac at Tempelhof Airport, its driver using his line of sight to control the car.

The steering wheel turned as if guided by ghostly hands.

The technology called EyeDriver lets the car drive up to 50km/h.

“The next step will be to get it to drive 60 miles per hour,” Mr Rojas said.

“The biggest challenge is of course to drive in a city with pedestrians and lots of obstacles.”

However, it is unclear when, or if, the technology will be commercialised as questions about safety and practicability abound: What about looking sideways for a few seconds?

But the researchers have an answer to distracted drivers: The Spirit of Berlin is also an autonomous car equipped with GPS navigation, scores of cameras, lasers and scanners that enable it to drive by itself. “The car can do everything. It can drive autonomously or it can be guided by a driver’s eyes,” Mr Rojas said.

The compromise is a mode that has the car driving on its own, basing its decisions on input from scanners and cameras, and only requires driver guidance at crossroads.

“The car stops at junctions and asks the driver for guidance on which road to take,” he said. A few seconds of attention with the driver looking in his desired direction get the car flowing again.

A bicycle helmet is key to the functioning of the EyeDriver.

One camera mounted on top of it monitors the street, a second one constantly keeps track of the driver’s eye movements.