Image: Jake Schneider/X
A Neuralink patient living with ALS is now driving his powered wheelchair with his thoughts alone.
Jake Schneider, who goes by P7 on X as one of Neuralink’s trial participants, shared a short video on Sunday morning of himself steering the chair outdoors using his N1 implant. It’s the latest in a run of patient milestones, after one ALS patient hit 75 words a minute in his first week.
“Using only mind power to drive the wheelchair with my Neuralink N1 implant,” Schneider wrote.
https://x.com/PairedWith_P7/status/2116922250712535115
Later on Sunday, he explained why it matters to him. His wheelchair has a joystick and a foot pedal, but ALS has taken away his ability to use either one.
“Neuralink has given me the ability to go on walks with my son again,” he said.
ALS gradually weakens the muscles people rely on to move, speak and eventually breathe. For patients who can no longer use their hands or feet, a joystick or pedal can become impossible, which leaves them depending on others to get around.
Neuralink’s N1 implant reads signals from the brain and turns them into commands for a computer or another device. Most of the attention so far has gone to cursor control and speech, including a 72-hour sprint that packed in weeks of speech progress last week.
Mobility is a newer frontier. Earlier this year, Neuralink patients described the implant as “life-changing” in a company video, and Schneider’s clip shows that independence moving beyond the screen and out the front door.
What would you want to see Neuralink patients control next with their thoughts?
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