Infiniti Conceptualizes Flying Racecar that Can Be Controlled by Mind

Last week at the LA Auto Show, Infiniti blew everybody’s minds when they went all science fiction and debuted their Synaptiq concept car. The theoretical concept, which Infiniti entered as part of the show’s annual Design Challenge, was conceived of to be a flying car that can be controlled by the driver’s mind and body.

According to the concept, this would be done through an accompanying suit that links the driver’s body readings, brain waves, eye movements, and muscle controls to the vehicle controls. Through this suit, the driver would then be connected to the vehicle through a spinal lock attachment, suspending the driver into a liquid crystal canopy that has an augmented reality system that displays information to the driver.

John Sahs, Infiniti interior design manager, says, “Our team is always talking about science fiction, [and] wearable technologies are advancing rapidly. Science fiction always has some vision of what the future could become, so who knows. Maybe, there’s an engineer out there working at a tech center who will be inspired by this.”

Along with the vehicle and body suit, Infiniti designers also presented a fictional vehicle triathlon world that would include air, rally, and circuit competitions. In the end, all of these visions helped to deliver Infiniti the LA Auto Show’s People’s Choice Award for imaginative design.

“Our designers loved participating in the LA Auto Show Design Challenge, conceptualizing how Infiniti drivers could interact with their vehicle in the coming decades,” said Sahs. “It’s extremely gratifying for the public to also dream a bit with us and identify with such ideas that may seem a bit futuristic, but may just not be that far away from reality.”