Their ‘moon shot’: Blind organization to showcase vehicle that can be driven by the blind
By Ken Thomas, APFriday, July 2, 2010
Group to show car that can be driven by the blind
WASHINGTON — For advocates of the blind, it’s akin to reaching the unreachable goal of landing a man on the moon: developing a vehicle that a blind person could drive.
The National Federation of the Blind and Virginia Tech plan to demonstrate a prototype vehicle next year equipped with technology that helps a blind person drive a car independently.
The technology, called nonvisual interfaces, uses sensors to let a blind driver maneuver a car based on information transmitted to him about his surroundings: whether another car or object is nearby, in front of him or in a neighboring lane.
The results of the research will be demonstrated next January on a modified Ford Escape sport utility vehicle at the Daytona International Speedway.
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