The Blind Community Has High Hopes for Self-Driving Cars
From: MIT Technology Review - 10/12/2016
By: Elizabeth Woyke

Advocates for the visually impaired are talking to companies and legislators
about developing vehicles they will be able to drive independently.

During a few days in August, the parking lot at Perkins School for the Blind
morphed into a test zone where a golf-cart-like vehicle transported students
and staff members, guided by a laptop. It was a prototype from Optimus Ride,
a startup in Cambridge, MA, that is developing self-driving technologies for
electric vehicles.

Though the trip was short and followed a programmed course, it generated
excitement at Perkins, the country's oldest school for the blind, which
serves 200 blind, visually impaired, and deaf-blind students on its campus
and hundreds more through programs in local schools. Advocates for the
blind—at Perkins and beyond—say driverless cars could revolutionize their
lives, provided the vehicles are designed to be accessible. As the promise of
a truly autonomous car draws closer, organizations representing people who
are blind are taking a more active role in shaping the vehicles and software
being developed.

Read the entire article at:
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602555/the-blind-community-has-high-hopes-for-self-driving-cars

Links:
Perkins School for the Blind
http://www.perkins.org

Optimus Ride (with video 2:37)
http://optimusride.com

Blind Driver Challenge
http://www.blinddriverchallenge.org