[blindkid] get your kids their drivers permits!

[Richard Holloway]

Computerized camera based systems can recognize an octagon or a  
triangle or "see" the color of a sign or a light. Look what a knfb  
reader can do with a cell phone as a computer to run the reader and  
then think of a big, powerful computer instead. Still, more than that,  
systems already exist which could easily transmit the state of the  
lights to all cars for various uses. It may well be that we need  
systems to be installed on the infrastructure end to make much of this  
possible and that may seem prohibitively expensive, but if this sort  
of thing were adapted in the mainstream, it could actually SAVE money.

I have seen demos on TV of systems now being tested where chains of  
cars can (electronically) link up and drive really close together with  
a computer keeping them from crashing and I have seen systems where an  
embedded wire is used to guide the cars on the road. Combine GPS and  
camera-based artificial intel. and infrastructure based things like  
wire guidance, then factor in perhaps doubling (or more) the capacity  
of many existing roads with the denser traffic and after that, think  
of what could ultimately be automated from mail and package delivery  
to trash pickup, pizza delivery, taxi service-- you name it.

Think of the potential to remove senile drivers, people on cell phones  
or people busy texting from being a menace by letting a car drive  
itself. I think the key for development is to first set aside the  
notion of helping blind people get around (no matter how important  
that is to all of us us). This is something that could help society in  
general and when it starts to catch on, then it could really move  
forward, THEN is when the blind can step in and reap the benefits from  
existing or slightly modified systems.

If I pause and look back 5, 10, and 20 years at technology and I  
observe what has happened, I find it hard to believe that 10 years  
from now we would not be at least close to this becoming reality. (It  
COULD be done MUCH faster.) I may be over optimistic and I'm not  
telling this to my blind daughter for a long time (who will be 17  
years old in 10 years), but I think there is an excellent chance that  
as a young adult, she'll be able to add travel by a private vehicle  
that she herself operates (or instructs)-- completely on her own-- to  
the ways she gets around...

Richard



On Apr 12, 2010, at 12:45 AM, DHammelIA at aol.com wrote:

>
> The real challenge will be how to access signs and lights.  How do  
> you tell a stop sign, whether a stop light is green or red, A Yield  
> Sign, No turn on red etc.
>
> This is a big step forward but unfortunately I don't see driving  
> accessible for the blind within my lifetime.
>
> At some point in the future maybe but I have to say many years off.
>
> Dave Hammel
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Susan Harper <sueharper at firstchurchgriswold.org>
> To: NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children) <blindkid at nfbnet.org 
> >
> Sent: Sun, Apr 11, 2010 11:53 am
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] get your kids their drivers permits!
>
>
> Nice Article, THANKS!  This week, I'd settle for independent potty  
> driver.
> e are getting there!
> lessings,
> ue H.
> On Sun, Apr 11, 2010 at 8:10 AM, Albert J Rizzi <albert at myblindspot.org 
> >wrote:
>> While I find the numbers listed in the article odd, or perhaps the  
>> 1.3
> million is reflective of totally blind individuals, I find the  
> prospects of
> being able to drive again exciting. Read on!
>
> http://autos.aol.com/article/students-design-car-for-blind/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Albert J. Rizzi, M.Ed.
> CEO/Founder
> My Blind Spot, Inc.
> 90 Broad Street - 18th Fl.
> New York, New York  10004
> www.myblindspot.org
>
> PH: 917-553-0347
> Fax: 212-858-5759
> "The person who says it cannot be done, shouldn't interrupt the one  
> who is
> doing it."
>
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