Some time ago I think I posted something about Virginia Tech University and their work to develop technology that would allow the blind to drive.
This month the Braille Monitor has an updated story. They are hoping to have a prototype on the road in 2011 that can be driven fromo Virgina Tech to the NFB's National Conference.
Pretty cool!
Here's a summary of the project as posted on the NFB's Web site.
THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
BLIND DRIVER CHALLENGE
Driving Independence and Innovation through Imagination
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”
These words spoken by President John F. Kennedy in the fall of 1962 served as the rallying cry for a tremendous technological effort that has forever changed America’s capacity for innovation. If we were to substitute the words “drive a car” for the words “go to the moon” we would have the imaginative challenge that Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, has established for the first decade of the NFB Jernigan Institute—the only research and training facility developed and directed by the blind.
What is the NFB Blind Driver Challenge?
The NFB Jernigan Institute challenges universities, technology developers, and other interested innovators to establish NFB Blind Driver Challenge teams in collaboration with the NFB. The purpose of these teams will be to build interface technologies that will empower blind people to independently drive a car. The challenge is not the development of a car that drives a blind person around. The challenge is a car that has enough innovative technology to convey real-time information about driving conditions to the blind so that we, people who possess capacity, an ability to think and react, and a spirit of adventure in addition to having the characteristic of blindness, can interpret these data and maneuver a car safely.
The purpose of the NFB Blind Driver Challenge is to stimulate nonvisual technological innovation through the NFB Jernigan Institute. The goals of this initiative are:
To establish a path of technological advancement for nonvisual access technology, and close the gap between access technology and general technology.
To increase awareness among the university scientific community about the “real problems” facing the blind by providing expertise from the perspective of the blind within the context of a difficult engineering challenge.
To demonstrate that vision is not a requirement for success and that the application of innovative nonvisual solutions to difficult problems can create new opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people—blind and sighted.
To change the public perceptions about the blind by creating opportunities for the public to view blind people as individuals with capacity, ambition, and a drive for greater independence.
To get involved with the NFB Blind Driver Challenge initiative, please contact Mark Riccobono, Executive Director, NFB Jernigan Institute, at (410) 659-9314, extension 2357, or e-mail mriccobono@nfb.org.
This month the Braille Monitor has an updated story. They are hoping to have a prototype on the road in 2011 that can be driven fromo Virgina Tech to the NFB's National Conference.
Pretty cool!
Here's a summary of the project as posted on the NFB's Web site.
THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
BLIND DRIVER CHALLENGE
Driving Independence and Innovation through Imagination
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”
These words spoken by President John F. Kennedy in the fall of 1962 served as the rallying cry for a tremendous technological effort that has forever changed America’s capacity for innovation. If we were to substitute the words “drive a car” for the words “go to the moon” we would have the imaginative challenge that Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, has established for the first decade of the NFB Jernigan Institute—the only research and training facility developed and directed by the blind.
What is the NFB Blind Driver Challenge?
The NFB Jernigan Institute challenges universities, technology developers, and other interested innovators to establish NFB Blind Driver Challenge teams in collaboration with the NFB. The purpose of these teams will be to build interface technologies that will empower blind people to independently drive a car. The challenge is not the development of a car that drives a blind person around. The challenge is a car that has enough innovative technology to convey real-time information about driving conditions to the blind so that we, people who possess capacity, an ability to think and react, and a spirit of adventure in addition to having the characteristic of blindness, can interpret these data and maneuver a car safely.
The purpose of the NFB Blind Driver Challenge is to stimulate nonvisual technological innovation through the NFB Jernigan Institute. The goals of this initiative are:
To establish a path of technological advancement for nonvisual access technology, and close the gap between access technology and general technology.
To increase awareness among the university scientific community about the “real problems” facing the blind by providing expertise from the perspective of the blind within the context of a difficult engineering challenge.
To demonstrate that vision is not a requirement for success and that the application of innovative nonvisual solutions to difficult problems can create new opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people—blind and sighted.
To change the public perceptions about the blind by creating opportunities for the public to view blind people as individuals with capacity, ambition, and a drive for greater independence.
To get involved with the NFB Blind Driver Challenge initiative, please contact Mark Riccobono, Executive Director, NFB Jernigan Institute, at (410) 659-9314, extension 2357, or e-mail mriccobono@nfb.org.
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