Take a Tesla Model S, hack into the operating system to allow it to talk with an Emotiv Insight mind control headset, and what do you get? The first Tesla on Earth that you can drive...with your mind.
At least, that's what the gang at Dallas-based app developer Touch Titans are claiming to have created. A short video the company released on April 3 seems to show an empty Tesla Model S slowly gliding back and forth in an empty parking lot, commanded only by a dude wearing a slightly goofy brainwave-detecting headband.
Amazing, sure. But is it real?
See, here's the thing. Early this year, Tesla released the Summon feature for cars equipped with Autopilot. That feature allows owners to slowly move their Model S forwards or backwards using either their phone or the car's key fob...exactly like the car in this video. It's easy to believe that a couple of smart hackers could worm their way into Summon and find a way to connect it to a set of brainwave sensors. But it's even easier to believe there's actually another guy just off camera tapping buttons to spur the Tesla back and forth.
For what it's worth, Touch Titans did respond to allegations of potential hoaxery in the YouTube video's comments, admitting there's no way to conclusively demonstrate in a video that the Model S is indeed being controlled through the brainwave-detecting apparatus. The company has offered to demonstrate the feature to any journalists in the Dallas area, however, so you can bet we'll be giving Touch Titans a ring the next time we're down in Texas.