[New-York-News] Fwd: [Nfbnet-members-list] Fwd: Happy Anniversary of Blind Driver Challenge—Accelerating Our Efforts

[Mike Robinson]

*Celebrating Tenth Anniversary of Blind Driver Challenge­Accelerating Our
Efforts*

The National Federation of the Blind is celebrating the ten year
anniversary of the Blind Driver Challenge by accelerating it this year. We
are collaborating with Dan Parker
<https://www.nfb.org/libraries/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=19821&qid=4828176>
to build and operate a car to attempt to break the Guinness Book World
Record for the “Fastest Speed for a Car Driven Blindfolded” in the fall of
2021, anticipating reaching a speed of over two hundred miles perhour.

The effort is an acceleration of the NFB’s Blind Driver Challenge, an
initiative in which the ability of a blind driver to successfully operate
an automobile using nonvisual technology was demonstrated ten years ago. On
January 29, 2011, Mark Riccobono, now President of the National Federation
of the Blind, independently operated a modified Ford Escape hybrid
<https://www.nfb.org/libraries/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=19831&qid=4828176>
on the Daytona International Speedway, navigating the course’s turns as
well as avoiding dynamic obstacles by following haptic prompts generated by
inputfrom the vehicle’s GPS, cameras, and LIDAR sensors. The goal of the
Blind Driver Challenge going forward is for the nation’s blind to share our
lived experience and expertise in nonvisual technology in a collaboration
with industry leaders to develop nonvisual interfaces so that blind people
will be able to independently use autonomous vehicles to safely navigate
daily life.

“Our Daytona Blind Driver Challenge demonstration changed the perceptions
of blindness held by society, including the perceptions that we ourselves
held as blind people,” said Mark Riccobono, President of the National
Federation of the Blind. “It further demonstrated to the world that the
expertise of the blind is critical to the development of nonvisual
interfaces. We are now accelerating the challenge in 2021 because the need
for urgency in the development and implementation of accessibility in
emerging technology is even greater. We look forward to working with Dan
Parker and others on innovations thatwill enhance the mobility and
independence of blind Americans.”

“I am proud and honored to partner with the National Federation of the
Blind and the Blind Driver Challenge to bring the Guinness World Record for
the fastest blind person in the world home to America,” said Dan Parker.
“With the work of the Blind Driver Challenge, it was demonstrated that a
blind person can safely drive a vehicle, and I will demonstrate that a
blind person can safely race a vehicle at over two hundred miles per hour.
Together we hope to inspire the blind youth of today to get involved in
STEM at their schools. My2008 Corvette is a purpose-built race car and I
designed every aspect of it.”

Dan Parker is the first blind person to independently drive a vehicle to
fifty miles per hour, one hundred miles per hour, and one hundred fifty
miles per hour to this date. His Corvette makes over eight hundred
horsepower and has a custom guidance system that gives him audible feedback.

Stay tuned for more exciting details on the Blind Driver Challenge
<https://www.nfb.org/libraries/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=19822&qid=4828176>.


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