How to Control a Race Car with VR, a 4g Network and Your Brain

If you thought that mind control was only real in Marvel’s cinematic universe then think again.

Vodafone announced the launch of a 4G network on the moon in 2019—and since it’s now possible to swim with sharks in VR using 4G, why wouldn’t we try to raise the bar even higher to transmit brainwaves via 4G?

Together with Vodafone, ACHTUNG! mcgarrybowen, and Made.For.Digital. we made it possible for anyone to feel like Charles Xavier and control a race car in virtual reality (VR) — and real life — with their brain.

Stage One

The first stage of the project, dubbed Formula Brain (the pun works a tad better in my native Dutch tongue), launched earlier this year in twelve Vodafone stores across the Netherlands.

Once store visitors took place in the driver’s seat, they were fitted with Emotiv EEG headsets, which allows for the brainwave frequencies to be registered and transmitted. The headset calibrates four types of brainwaves ranging from low to high frequency — Theta, Alpha, Beta and Gamma.

The frequency measured by the EEG headset is then filtered into code that was used to control the car. In short; higher focus means a higher frequency and so higher acceleration. To complete the life-like feel of the experience, we used Gear VR headsets that immersed racers in a circuit based on the Red Bull Ring.

Stage Two

Over the course of three weekends, participants competed for a coveted ticket to the second stage: a race event for the five best racers at a local circuit. Using the same EEG headsets for measuring brainwaves, the real life race event offered a more realistic driver’s experience — complete with Vodafone suits, live telemetry data reflecting the car’s performance, and a direct camera feed from inside the car for the racers to focus on.

Inside a custom-built dome, placed in the circuit’s center, the racers claimed the driver’s seat once again — this time controlling a physical race car on the track outside. Vodafone’s 4G network was the connecting factor in this stage of the game, making sure the racers brainwaves were transmitted to the car on the track — all in real time. In the end, one racer was crowned the king of Formula Brain and won a ticket to the 2018 Grand Prix of Austria at the Red Bull Ring.

Brainwaves + 4G Network = Dream Team

Keeping in mind that Formula 1 drivers go through years of extensive training to maintain focus for seventy laps at soaring speeds, it’s even more exciting that we allowed regular people to have the same experience with barely any training — all using the power of their brain.

Adding our experience with VR and real time telemetry data handling to the equation — think of projects like Red Bull: Air Race Live VR, the Old Spice: S.Q.U.I.D. and more recently Nike Game of Go — promises more exciting possibilities for the future.

Maybe down the road we’ll see what else these technologies holds for creating some high-octane brand experiences — on this planet and beyond.