Apart from the fact that this concept sounds truly amazing, although the potential for getting it wrong is massive, this article contains the best name of a company ever.

Deep Local.

From Gadget Review:

Toyota Prius Project Concept “PXP” Bike

A bike that shifts gears using your mind…ludicrous, right? Think again. Toyota Prius Projects teamed up with Boston-based Parlee Cycles to do a 10-week build and actually created a concept bike that shifts gears at only the thought. Parlee Cycles’ involvement is part of a series of design and technology projects from Toyota that are supposed to help extend the Prius brand to other realms besides hybrid cars.

Drawing on the Prius’ performance and drivability, Parlee created “an aero road bike” that they called “PXP.” The foundation for the PXP was to include features from a time-trial bike with that of a road bike so that the end result would be designed for both performance and distance. To provide it with such aerodynamic ability, carbon fiber was used to minimize weight even though it’s not the most environmentally conscious material on Earth. But Parlee still practiced conservation (something that Prius stands for) by reusing all the scraps that weren’t used. Parlee then added a seat that was fitted with a wireless transmitter that would allow rider to shift the bike’s gears using a smartphone.

For the Prius Project bicycle, a team from Deep Local is working on a helmet with built-in neuron transmitters that allow the rider’s brain patterns to trigger the electronic shifters to move gears up or down. The system is said to take just 10 minutes to learn, after which the rider will be able to shift gears by just thinking about doing so.

The headset in the helmet (see below) looks to be an EEG that will be able to translate electrical patterns on the scalp into usable information and, with some interpretation, into gear changes. It’s a complex process but the technology should tighten the connection between bike and rider, cut down on response time when shifting, and won’t require any hand movement, which means gears can be changed at any time. Shifting gears isn’t a particularly demanding activity and today’s shifters are finely-tuned mechanisms, but this touch-free interaction is taking things from high-tech straight to sci-fi.

Read more at Gadget Review