Coming soon! Cars for the visually challenged and the blind!
The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and Virginia Tech are developing a new car that can be driven safely by a blind person – and plan to demonstrate it on the famous Daytona International Speedway track next year.
The car will be controlled through a number of non-visual interfaces. For example, sensors transmit information about twists and turns in the road via vibrating gloves.
Another technique uses puffs of compressed air from behind the wheel to alert the driver to the objects around the car, such as other vehicles or obstructions in the road.
Other interfaces include a vibrating vest that gives feedback on speed, a click counter steering wheel with audio cues and spoken commands for feedback on the car’s direction.
The team demonstrated its first-generation prototype, http://www.tgdaily.com/general-sciences-features/43264-car-lets-the-blin-take-the-wheel a modified dune buggy, last summer. The new version is a Ford Escape, which will be demonstrated at the 2011 Rolex 24 at Daytona on January 29.