Future Workplace Brain-Computer Interface Hype

Electronic systems save lives on a daily basis in traffic. When an accident happens, airbags and belt tensioners respond within fractions of a second, while electronic stability programs repeatedly help ensure that motorists do not come to harm in critical situations. Automaker Nissan aims to make driving even safer and at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas unveiled its Brain-to-Vehicle (B2V) technology. It analyzes the driver’s brain activity and inputs the results into interaction with the vehicle. Movements like handling the steering wheel or braking can thereby be predicted and implemented faster by intelligent assistants – unnoticed by the driver or passengers. And response times can be reduced by up to half a second.

That may sound like science fiction but is reality – and anything but a one-off case. All over the world so-called brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs, are currently being developed. They convert brain activity into control signals – to control computers, robots or artificial limbs, for example. Electrical signals from the brain are registered by means of electroencephalography (EEG) or implanted sensors, analyzed by computers and then translated into specific instructions.

“The possible uses of this technology are incredible. In the years ahead it will lead to further innovation in our vehicles,” says Lucian Gheorghe, Head of B2V Development at the Nissan Research Center in Japan. By 2022 the global BCI market will grow by at least ten percent a year to over USD 1.7 billion, according to Grand View Research. Small wonder that Tesla founder Elon Musk and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg are also keen to secure a slice of the cake and are investing heavily in BCI research. Musk, for example, had the medical research company Nuralink registered in July 2016 and is working on the development of neural lace technology. The aim is to merge biological and digital intelligence.