Innovations
in automated driving have led to hopes that blind people may be able to take to
the wheel.
This time last year,
Google released a video showing a blind
man driving a car. He was seen going to a local drive-through
restaurant near his home in San Jose, California, and later collecting dry
cleaning without any difficulty.
Steve Mahan, the driver,
heads the Santa Clara Valley Blind Center and hadn't been in the driver's seat
of a car since giving up his licence eight years earlier after losing 95% of
his sight. On this occasion, the only action he performed was to press a start
button. He couldn't control the car independently, but the video showed an
intent to make driving more accessible and safe for everyone.
"I'm finding there's
a lot of buzz, a lot of people in the blind community talking about driverless
cars," says Mahan.
"In America, getting
a driver's licence is a rite of passage. It represents being able, having the
liberty to go where you want to go. Cars and car ownership are important parts
of a sense of independence and personal power."
Public transport isn't
very developed in the US, so being carless can leave you isolated and could
contribute to problems such as unemployment. Because of this, cars can provoke
a very emotional response among blind people, says Mahan. "We have had
clients that will just go out and sit in the vehicles they used to drive and
turn the motor on, just to be behind the wheel."
See BBC News for more Details
See BBC News for more Details
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