Prius bike by Toyota and Saatchi Prius bike by Toyota and Saatchi
Prius bike by Toyota and Saatchi Prius bike by Toyota and Saatchi

Mind control: Bike gears change via thought

03 : 08 : 2011 Toyota : PXP : EEG Array

Pittsburgh – Car company Toyota, creative collective Deeplocal, carbon-fibre bicycle experts Parlee Cycles and advertisers Saatchi & Saatchi have created a concept bicycle which is based on the Toyota Prius – and which lets riders change gears using their minds.

The gear-changing system features a helmet with a built-in EEG array. After a 10-minute training session, in which the system learns to distinguish ‘shift up’ from ‘shift down’, the rider simply thinks about changing gear and the helmet reliably sends the correct message to the bicycle’s gear system.

‘The Prius was not the first car, but it was the car optimised. The PXP is an homage to that optimisation,’ says Saatchi & Saatchi LA’s executive creative director, Chris Adams.

This technology is a radical example of an intuitive interface. This is explored in more detail in our Intuitive Futures macro trend.

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