152 miles an hour around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2016 should register much of a reaction normally, but in the case of this black Corvette Z06, it’s a milestone. Driving the car is Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team owner Sam Schmidt, a former IndyCar driver who was rendered a quadriplegic after a crash during testing at Walt Disney World Speedway in early 2000. By all means, Schmidt’s driving days should have been well behind him sixteen years on, but that hasn’t stopped him from trying like hell to get behind the wheel. Working in conjunction with Arrow Electronics, Schmidt has been working on functional semi-autonomous driving technology that would benefit paralyzed individuals. Two years ago Schmidt set a record for a semi-autonomous motorcar (SAM) pace at Indianapolis, running 107 MPH in a Corvette Stingray that utilized head-tilt technology for throttle control. For this effort, the 650 horsepower Z06 offered up the grunt, and a new system that combined the eye-tracking steering system with a breather tube that accelerates with breath and decelerates with suction got Schmidt up to a top speed of 152 MPH and an average speed of 108.642 MPH in four laps with passenger Robbie Unser riding along. Unser, who has been testing the system with Schmidt, had a second set of controls in front of him as a safety precaution. Additional functions in the car are voice-activated, from shifting the automatic transmission to turning on the signals. We might bag on autonomous driving aids as features for the lazy non-driver, but there are positive benefits to the systems, and allowing Schmidt to ditch the wheelchair and hit triple-digits on a track for the first time in years is a testament to what can be!

(Courtesy: motorsport.com)