Pilot Schmidt drove the 2021 McLaren 720S Spider car, modified by Arrow, using only head and mouth movements, along with voice commands
Paraplegic driver Sam Schmidt drove the Arrow Electronics SAM Car up the iconic 1.86km climb at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on 24 June as part of the 'FOS Highlights and FIA Batch 5'.
Sam Schmidt and Arrow attended this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed with a 2021 McLaren 720S Spider sports car, which was modified by Arrow to allow Schmidt to drive the car using only his head. Additionally, Arrow exhibited the SAM Suit (Semi-Autonomous Mobility) exoskeleton at the Festival of Speed's Future Lab and a prototype facial recognition driving system for the SAM Car, which is under development and has already been successfully tested at low speed.
Schmidt is co-owner of an IndyCar team (Arrow McLaren SP) and is a former Indy Racing League driver who, in 2000, was injured during a test ride at the Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, suffering serious spinal cord injuries. He was diagnosed with a form of quadriplegia. To help Schmidt regain independence and drive again, Arrow engineers have created an intelligent, interconnected vehicle that can be used safely and independently through simple head and mouth movements and voice commands: the Arrow SAM Car.
To steer, infrared cameras mounted on the dashboard detect the movements of Schmidt's head, who looks left to steer the car left and right to steer the car right. To accelerate and brake Schmidt uses breathing, inhaling and exhaling through a “sip-and-puff” device. Schmidt returned to being a sports race driver.
Arrow designed another technology to enhance Schmidt's mobility: the Arrow SAM Suit. Thanks to a collaboration between Arrow and robotics engineering designers at Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tenn.), the Arrow SAM Suit improves on current exoskeleton technology with extensions that support Schmidt's torso and arms, as well as his lower extremities. The SAM Suit is part of the technological approach used to develop the Arrow SAM Car, demonstrating how technology can provide freedom and choice to people with disabilities.
The Goodwood Festival of Speed, presented by Mastercard, is an annual motorsport event held on the grounds of Goodwood House in the south of England and organized by Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, Duke of Richmond. The event has been taking place since 1993 and combines current, historical and future elements of motor sports and car racing.
For more information
SAM Car technology to extend mobility
The next frontier of freedom
Arrow Electronics
