Will Virginia Tech Make The Blind To Drive?
“What are you, blind?” It’s got to be one of the motorist’s most-used phrases, but it’s also clearly a rhetorical one. Of all the hardships that come with visual impairment, the inability to drive is surely one of the most frustrating, especially in car-centric cultures like the US. Nearly a decade ago the National Federation for the Blind launched its Blind Driver Challenge, which challenged universities to take up the cause of developing technology that would allow the visually impaired to operate motor vehicles. Today that technology exists. AOL News reports on a Virginia Tech program that is developing a vehicle that can be operated without visual input.
The modified dune buggy they created utilizes a front-mounted, laser-range-finder sensor. It constantly feeds visual data into a computer that “interface” with a blind driver in two ways.
First, the driver wears a vest embedded with tiny motors that vibrate at different intensity levels according to how fast the car should be going.
Secondly, the computer issues audio cues every few seconds, telling the driver how much to turn the steering wheel and in what direction. Wenger admits that the robot voice can be “a little obnoxious.” Indeed, it’s like having a know-it-all back-seat driver that doesn’t know when to shut up.
Testing has produced even further innovations, and the latest test model is nearly complete.
The laser sensor has been upgraded. The vibrating vest has given way to a pair of vibrating driving gloves. The audio cues are history. Instead, the driver will get his bearings from a so-called flexible-surface “tactile map” on the dashboard. The map runs on compressed air and changes shape to reflect what lies on the road ahead. The driver reads the map with his fingertip
In short, much of the technology for autonomous driving is mature. The problem now? Giving blind drivers actual control of the vehicle, instead of having to rely on computer instructions. Several years of work is still needed to make the UVT system able to read road signs, and otherwise roadworthy. For now, they’ll continue testing systems with a dune buggy in a University parking lot.
And even if UVT is able to create a convincing system for blind drivers, the biggest challenge will still be waiting: acceptance from non-impaired drivers, insurance companies and the government. There’s no technological fix for these issues, and as UVT’s student team leader puts it “there are way too many skeptics out there.”
Given the complex lack of predictability involved in driving, and the split-second reaction times needed to handle on-road situations, the technology will have to be highly developed to convince all the skeptics. Besides, if autonomous driving technology matures first, the lines between personal and public transportation will only blur, robbing automobiles of many of their freedom-bestowing advantages. Still, with the proper technology, is it so hard to imagine blind drivers being much worse than the current batch of texting, drunk, or otherwise incompetent drivers?
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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It is amazing that the same person who does their nails, eats and reads while driving (yes, I'm talking to you mom) will think nothing of smirking at the efforts of seriously visually impaired persons like myself to drive. If I were in a wheelchair and became able to walk, they'd make a movie about it. But become able to drive after 35 years and you get snarky sometimes rude comments. I hope more and more of this gets into the real world if not to replace my (semi-functional) eyes, to augment them. It should be noted that we've come a long way already. GPS that speaks street names helps with those tiny signs. Warnings about cars in blind spots and lane departures help too, as do the warnings and brake readiness that adaptive cruise control provides when the car in front of you stops short. Good stuff for all of us, not just those with visual impairments.
Glad to see fellow Hokies here, and being recognized nationally. That said, I think the Autonomous team's DARPA efforts are superior to this. Putting an impaired driver into the loop is a clear step backwards compared to autonomous vehicles. The DARPA teams even cleared the obstacle of reading traffic control signs/signals with the Urban Challenge vehicle. I think the team formed to go after this prize simply because the engineering department needs to find additional projects to sustain an ever-increasing graduating class. The Mechanical Engineering department has for years required every senior to participate in a full-year "senior design project" such as the DARPA challenges, SAE Mini-Baja, FormulaSAE, etc. It is my understanding that the Bradley Dept of Electrical/Computer engineering may have added such a requirement since my graudation. (BSME, 2002, FormulaSAE team)