[Arizona-students] Fw: Blind Man Drives Car Independently

[Allison, NFBA]

> Hi,
>
> Thought some of you might find this article interesting.  Today has 
> definitely
> made history.
>
> Allison
>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Freeh,Jessica <JFreeh at nfb.org>
>> Sent: Saturday, January 29, 2011 10:48 AM
>> Subject: Blind Man Drives Car Independently
>>
>>
>> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>>
>> CONTACT:
>> John G. Paré Jr.
>> Executive Director for Strategic Initiatives
>> National Federation of the Blind
>> (410) 659-9314, extension 2218
>> (410) 917-1965 (Cell)
>> jpare at nfb.org
>>
>> Blind Man Drives Car Independently
>>
>> Avoids Dynamic Obstacles
>>
>> Baltimore, Maryland (January 29, 2011): 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 ChallengeT 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
>> ChallengeT came to happen, and that is how we
>> will make all of our dreams come true."
>>
>> The NFB Blind Driver ChallengeT 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
>> ChallengeT (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 ChallengeT 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 XGVT 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.
>>
>> For more information about the NFB, please visit
>> www.nfb.org.  For our digital news release about
>> the Blind Driver ChallengeT and the debut of the
>> BDC car at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, including
>> audio and video clips for television and radio,
>> please visit www.DigitalNewsRelease.com/?q=NFB_CarKit.
>>
>> ###
>>
>>
>> About the National Federation of the Blind
>>
>> With more than 50,000 members, the National
>> Federation of the Blind is the largest and most
>> influential membership organization of blind
>> people in the United States.  The NFB improves
>> blind people's lives through advocacy, education,
>> research, technology, and programs encouraging
>> independence and self-confidence.  It is the
>> leading force in the blindness field today and
>> the voice of the nation's blind.  In January 2004
>> the NFB opened the National Federation of the
>> Blind Jernigan Institute, the first research and
>> training center in the United States for the blind led by
>>
>>
>>
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