The picture you see above is of racing driver John Morton. He’s as experienced a driver as racers get, having won at Sebring and Le Mans, and competed in CART, IMSA and Can-Am, amongst others.

The reason he has electrodes attached to his head is because scientists are fascinated by him. These scientists are working on the development of an autonomous car, a self-driving machine. And for all their work in machines, it’s the human mind that they’re most interested in.

See, racing drivers are extremely good at driving. And in order to create a car that can ferry us around independently, designers need to understand how the mind of the best human drivers work. It seems that Chris Gerdes from the Stanford School of Engineering, who delivers the lecture you can see below, is a racer himself, and he reckons that studying the masters is the best way forward. Check out his very interesting talk and let us know if you agree.