Crashing this could get expensive.

[OakLeaf]

I don't think it's ever intended for the consumer market. Just a prototype "see what we can do."

Considering it's sponsored by Toyota, I think the intended market is probably race cars (where being able to shift by a thought would confer the kind of micro-advantage that helps win races). But it's a whole lot cheaper to build a prototype bicycle helmet and integrate it with already-existing wireless shifters, than to build a prototype car helmet and wireless receivers for a car's shift-by-wire system.

Every once in a while you see something similar that they're working on for quadriplegics and people with muscle wasting diseases. That would obviously be an application for this stuff, but putting it into a prototype that able-bodied people might think about using themselves, attracts more attention and thus more funding.

[jessmarimba]

I bet the guy I saw riding through my neighborhood yesterday with his right arm in a cast from fingers to upper arm sure wished he had this bike!