It is quite an encouraging scenario for American blind community and even
for Western world for that matter, but, it is a distant dream for same
community in this country. As and when the technology comes to India or,
our roads become eligible for that technology, We would have to fight a
fierce battle to convince the concerned authorities to issue a driving
license to a blind person. Until quite recently, this was the position in L
I C that if a sighted person meets with an accident due to his own
neglegence, yet he is entitled for accident benefit. Whereas, if a blind
person dies in road accident due to the rashness of motorist, he would not
get the same benefit.
This is the mentality of our society.----- Original Message -----
From: <umarluha...@gmail.com>
To: "Accessindia" <accessindia@accessindia.org.in>
Sent: Monday, January 31, 2011 7:36 AM
Subject: [AI] Blind man drives car independently
Blind man drives car independently.
Avoids Dynamic Obstacles.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Jan. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National
Federation of the Blind (NFB), the oldest and largest organization of blind
people in the nation, announced today that for the first time a blind
individual
has driven a street vehicle in public without the assistance of a sighted
person. Mark Anthony Riccobono, a blind executive who directs technology,
research, and education programs for the organization, was behind the wheel
of a
Ford Escape hybrid equipped with nonvisual technology and successfully
navigated
1.5 miles of the road course section of the famed track at the Daytona
International Speedway.
The historic demonstration was part of pre-race activities leading up to the
Rolex 24 At Daytona this morning. Mr. Riccobono not only successfully
navigated
the several turns of the road course but also avoided obstacles, some of
which
were stationary and some of which were thrown into his path at random from a
van
driving in front of him. Later he successfully passed the van without
collision.
The Ford Escape was equipped with laser range-finding censors that conveyed
information to a computer inside the vehicle, allowing it to create and
constantly update a three-dimensional map of the road environment. The
computer
sent directions to vibrating gloves on the driver's hands, indicating which
way
to steer, and to a vibrating strip on which he was seated, indicating when
to
speed up, slow down, or stop.
Mr. Riccobono said: "The NFB's leadership in the Blind Driver Challenge has
taken something almost everyone believed was an impossible dream and turned
it
into reality. It was thrilling for me to be behind the wheel, but even more
thrilling to hear the cheers from my blind brothers and sisters in the
grandstands* -- today all of the members of the NFB helped drive us
forward*. It
is for them and for all blind Americans that the National Federation of the
Blind undertook this project to show that blind people can do anything that
our
sighted friends and colleagues can do as long as we have access to
information
through nonvisual means. Today we have demonstrated that truth to the nation
and
the world."
Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said:
"Just
as our colleague Mark Riccobono successfully surmounted many obstacles on
the
Daytona course today, blind people routinely surmount barriers by using
alternative techniques and technologies. When there is not a solution
available,
we muster our resources and combine them with those of the partners who make
common cause with us to produce the innovations necessary to create such a
solution. That is how the NFB Blind Driver Challenge came to happen, and
that
is how we will make all of our dreams come true."
The NFB Blind Driver Challenge is a research project of the National
Federation
of the Blind Jernigan Institute -- the only research and training facility
on
blindness operated by the blind. The Jernigan Institute challenged
universities,
technology developers, and other interested innovators to establish NFB
Blind
Driver Challenge (BDC) teams, in collaboration with the NFB, to build
interface
technologies that will empower blind people to drive a car independently.
The
purpose of the NFB Blind Driver Challenge is to stimulate the development of
nonvisual interface technology. The Virginia Tech/TORC NFB BDC team, under
the
direction of Dr. Dennis Hong, director of the Robotics and Mechanisms
Laboratory
at Virginia Tech., is the only team that has accepted the challenge. The
team
uses the ByWire XGV developed by TORC technologies as the research platform
for
the development and testing of the nonvisual interface technologies that
allow a
blind person to drive.
Source URL:
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blind-man-drives-car-independently-114859069.html
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