This Nissan Leaf Reads Your Thoughts, Projects Them On The Road

8 years, 8 months ago - 14 April 2016, Autoblog

Do you remember what went through your head when you first started driving? You probably wouldn't want those thoughts visible to everyone, which means this specially modified Nissan Leaf would have been a nightmare.

The EV projects its driver's emotions onto the road for every bystander to see.

For the video above, Nissan hooked the tech up to 30 young Japanese drivers who were also EV first-timers. The subjects wear a headband that monitors their brainwaves,monitoring for alpha waves – produced by the brain when a person is relaxed or concentrating – and beta waves, which show when someone is tense or excited. By measuring these levels, the system can project one of 33 messages reflecting the person's mood, and the words show up on each side of the car in bold, manga-style graphics. You know it's scientific because there are guys in white lab coats.

We're not sure how or if this system helps these drivers feel more comfortable in an EV, but the implementation looks fantastic. The combination of the graphics plastering the car and the way similar images appear on the road is a really fun idea, if just a bit distracting. On second thought, maybe it's not the best idea for a new driver.