Brain Age Creator Developing Intelligent Toyotas for Old People

First he developed Brain Age, a hit Nintendo DS game that helps keep people’s brains fit well into their golden years. Now, the same guy, Ryuta Kawashima, is working with Toyota to make cars that help the older folks who perhaps didn’t do all the mental calisthenics they should have.The car systems, which will are now going into development, will be able to determine whether or not the driver was doing anything dangerous or erratic, and control for that or even act to prevent that kind of behaviour.

There might be a system that uses both climate control and navigation to make sure the drivers stay alert, for instance. The system might automatically slows the car down if it senses an irrational punch of the gas pedal. There’s no mention of the opposite, however. You know, the system that speeds the hell up when it determines that you’ve just merged onto a 120km/h freeway and you’re only doing 34. [SMH]