Science Helps Quadriplegic Drive a Corvette Once Again

By Jonathon Klein - August 13, 2015

sam

Sometimes a technology comes along that touches your heart. Maybe not literally, like a pace maker, but a piece of technology that makes you feel all gooey inside and makes you want to hug the person that invented it. This next invention definitely fits that warm-fuzzy bill.

When someone gets involved in an accident and loses functionality of their limbs, life can become extremely difficult, not to mention depressing. For gear heads that lose their freedom and ability to drive a car, it’s especially difficult. I myself was just in a bad motorcycle accident where the first thing I checked was the mobility of all my limbs. I was lucky, but many aren’t, and that leaves them without the ability to do something they love. Until now.

The video below shows off a new technology called SAM (Semi-Autonomous Motorcar), which essentially takes the movements of the driver’s head and translates them into input signals for the rest of the car, thereby giving the driver complete control, just by moving his or her head.

In the video, former IndyCar driver, Sam Schmidt, who has since become a quadriplegic, tests out the SAM system in a new C7 Corvette Stingray around the Brickyard at a high rate of speed. Because no matter what happens, you’ll never be able to take the need for speed out of a racecar driver.

This technology has limitless possibilities for those that have suffered major spinal traumas. Hopefully, with increased funding and more research, SAM could be put into production and help millions of people around the world.