You Can Now Mind-Control the Mercedes-Benz Vision AVTR

The Vision AVTR is Mercedes-Benz’s vision of the future and the first partnership of the kind with entertainment giant Disney. The AVTR moniker is a reference to James Cameron’s groundbreaking Avatar movie, which came out in 2009 and, as of fall of 2021, is yet to get the sequel Cameron promised years ago. It also stands for Advanced Vehicle Transformation, because the car isn’t as much of a car as it’s a living organism that connects with the “driver” and the passengers on an organic level.

With this year’s edition of IAA Mobility (the International Motor Show, taking place in Munich, Germany, between September 7 and September 12), the AVTR takes one step further toward that unbreakable connection with humans. Mercedes-Benz is using brain-computer interfaces (BCI) to allow passengers – including the one sitting where the steering wheel should have been – to control the vehicle with their minds.

BCI technology is not anywhere close to becoming standard in the automotive industry but, as the marque points out, it’s no longer the stuff of sci-fi movies. It’s already being used in medical research, allowing people with limited or no mobility to lead more independent lives. One day, it will be used in cars, as well, offering passengers the chance to make even less of an effort in connecting with the car, so all that remains is the pure, unadulterated pleasure of driving. Or being driven, more like it, since the Vision AVTR is an autonomous vehicle.

Mercedes-Benz imagines that BCI technology will enable passengers to personalize that experience without as much as lifting a finger to touch screens or, in AVTR’s case, summon icons onto the palm of their hand. This way, they will be able to adjust lighting and climate controls, change the playlist or select navigation control. This will be done by means of a BCI device attached to the head, which will read brain activity after a one-minute calibration.

Visitors at the Mercedes-Benz booth at IAA 2021 will be able to experience this first-hand. That’s not to say that they will be given the rare chance of actually sitting inside the gorgeous AVTR concept, let alone fiddle with the controls, but it’s the next best thing.

A seat mockup from the AVTR, with fully digital dashboard, will be on site. Once you sit in it and have the BCI device attached to the back of the head, light dots are projected onto the dashboard. The light dots serve as visual stimuli, and the BCI device will record and analyze brain waves, determining which light points the user is focusing on. It will then trigger the targeted function in the mock vehicle: selecting a parking space, turning day into night, and the odd choices of generating wind and growing plants.

“Mercedes-Benz is setting another milestone in the merging of man and machine with the research and development of brain-computer interface applications in cars. BCI technology has the potential to further enhance driving comfort in the future, for example,” Britta Seeger, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Mercedes-Benz AG, responsible for Sales, says in a statement.

The idea is not new: from its inception, AVTR was seen as the ultimate bond between man, machine and nature. Everything about this concept car is designed accordingly, from the aerodynamics flaps on the rear end that help driver “communicate” with the car and the outside world, to the integration of recyclable and sustainable materials, to the way the owner unlocks the vehicle by having it sync with their own heartbeat.

The AVTR would be best described as humanity’s dream of a bright, smart and safe future, told through the design language of Mercedes-Benz. The car is no longer an object, but an extension of the self (more so that it is today, when we’re not even halfway there technologically to what the AVTR represents). The Vision AVTR is also fully electric and autonomous, and part of the natural environment in ways only dream cars can be.