HeadPilot – Accessible Racing Fun

At first, it’s just a slight tugging sensation in your body, a gentle give from the seat beneath you. You place your hands on the steering wheel, tilt your head forward to accelerate, then turn slightly to the left, then to the right—and feel the movement being instantly responded to. You decide where to go. The road unfolds before you, curves open up and close, you lean into them slightly, feeling the momentum, the rolling, the acceleration. Everything responds quickly, precisely, without delay—as if you were really out there on the road.
And yet you’re sitting… actually somewhere else entirely.

Fabian Vöhringer, a 7th-grade student at Edenkoben High School, and Carlos Römer, a 7th-grade student at Käthe-Kollwitz High School in Neustadt, want to make this driving experience possible for people with physical disabilities. As part of the extracurricular “Jugend forscht” club, they developed a driving simulator controlled exclusively by head movements—without the use of arms or legs. After months of grueling experimentation with various sensors, the simulator was completed, and we welcomed the two of them to TRE at the beginning of the year. Our development engineers showed the students our simulator, its structure, and the components used.
It was a great pleasure to have them visit us and share insights into their work. We were particularly impressed by how well-thought-out and innovative their project is: With “HeadPilot – Accessible Racing Fun,” they are developing a solution that enables people with disabilities to access racing experiences—a truly forward-looking initiative that extends far beyond the competition.
We warmly congratulate them on winning the regional competition hosted by Sparkasse Kaiserslautern and are keeping our fingers crossed for the state competition in April.