I'm trying to identify the title of a book that's generally about a male protagonist who transfers to a new school where learning is partially conducted by a device placed on the head, which turns out to be a mind controlling effort by the malevolent school. Here are some details that I can remember, which I think are true:
- it is a novel that is relatively recent (i.e. 2010 onwards?) and targeted to early YA readers, set in the future
- it begins with the protagonist at a "normal" school before receiving an invitation to attend this advanced school for gifted students
- the school may have been called an "academy"
- the learning device may have been described as "helmets" which injected knowledge into the students brains
- the main plot point is that the protagonist discovers the true, nefarious nature of the helmet device
- the cover of the book is animated/cartoon and is of a futuristic cityscape with the male protagonist flying in an autonomous, purple vehicle being chased by other vehicles
- the flying vehicles were called "pods", were voice-controlled and came in various sizes