The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and Virginia Tech plans to gift a car to its blind-car lovers next year. Yes, soon we can have a car designed especially for the blind. The car is expected to be revealed at the famous Daytona International Speedway track next year.
The Ford Escape comes with an unique technology that allows a blind person to drive independently, using a pair of gloves equipped with vibrating motors that tell the blind person which way to steer. Non-visual interface aids include sensors indicating turns in the road via vibrating gloves. Puffs of compressed air on the face will alert the driver to obstacles. Other aids to be fitted include a vibrating vest to give feedback on speed and a steering wheel with audio cues and spoken commands indicating the car’s direction.
“Three years ago, we accepted the NFB Blind Driver Challenge to develop a vehicle that can be driven by a blind person,” said Dr Dennis Hong, Director of the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at Virginia Tech. “The challenge was not the development of an autonomous vehicle that could drive a blind person around, but rather the creation of non-visual interfaces that would allow a blind person to actually make driving decisions.”
The team demonstrated its first-generation prototype, a tailored dune buggy, just last summer. The new version will be demonstrated at the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona on January 29.
“We are not trying to build a technology alone. We are trying to build a technology that can be combined with an intellect to do things that neither could do alone,” said Dr Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind.”This demonstration will break down the wall of stereotypes and misconceptions that prevent our full integration into society by showing the public that the blind have the same capacities as everyone else. Our only challenge is access to the information we need.”
Another innovation on display is the Blio reader. The reader offers access to more than a million free books with software that will sync with most computers, laptops and mobile devices. It has text-to-speech technology in which a synthesized voice reads the text, and it should be available soon, according to Blio’s website.
Tags: daytona international speedway, dune buggy, ford escape, NFB, rolex 24 at daytona, virginia tech