Are you ready for yet another silly patent registration that probably will never happen? This one comes courtesy of Ford. The automaker has filed an application with the United States Patent and Tradmark Office for a system they call a “brain machine interface.”

First reported by Motor1, the application appears to be a method for the vehicle to monitor brainwave activity, using the data to predict when a driver is going to make a change in control input. This could include braking, accelerating, turning the steering wheel, and so on.

It senses immediate intention. Or to be specific, it looks for the brainwaves that indicate that a muscle control is imminent. This means that the system wouldn’t be controlled by the brain completely, but it would know what you plan to do the moment you are doing it. How it would improve performance with this information is not terribly clear.

The machine itself appears to be a hat with various sensors. This hat would connect to the vehicle using the same ports that modern cars use for existing driving aids.

Realistically speaking, we cannot imagine the purpose of this system. Saving a few milliseconds on reaction time doesn’t seem worth the inevitable cost and inconvenience of having brain reading technology. It’d make sense that this is a stepping stone for hands-free driving using your mind. But again, this is a big jump to make from just controlling the car as we normally do now. Why risk something strange, like an intrusive thought randomly swerving into a river.

Good job keeping it weird, Ford. We genuinely expect this to go absolutely nowhere.