[NFBCS] Seeking Expertise for Feasibility of EarPilot Collaboration

Fri Mar 27 23:53:53 UTC 2026

Good evening everyone,

                This is a wonderful idea but let history be our guide. The
Blind Driver Challenge was a smashing success. Both of us supported it.
Since then the innovation has shifted from developing an interface to allow
a blind person to drive a car independently to replacing human drivers with
autonomous vehicles. This same path is happening in the World of flight. San
Antonio is fast becoming a hub for autonomous air taxi and plans are in the
works to create one of the first air taxi services in the country right here
in the Alamo City. Don't take my word for it. Learn more at the following:

Flying taxis could launch in San Antonio, other Texas cities under new TxDOT
program:
https://www.ksat.com/news/2026/03/11/flying-taxis-could-launch-in-san-antoni
o-other-texas-cities-under-new-txdot-program/

Electric flying cars? South Texas' first vertiport gaining steam in San
Antonio | Port San Antonio: https://portsanantonio.us/SkyGrid

A Texas-sized Home for Advanced Air Mobility Innovation | Port San Antonio:
https://www.portsanantonio.us/AAM
<https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/austin/article/texas-air-taxis-22086270.p
hp> 

Air taxis will soon be test flying across Texas skies:
<https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/austin/article/texas-air-taxis-22086270.p
hp> 

Vertical takeoff air taxis could be coming to San Antonio:
https://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/vertical-takeoff-air-taxis-could-be-c
oming-to-san-antonio-texas-selected-for-test-program

                While the idea of blind persons flying aircraft
independently is awesome let's not ignore the lessons of history and work to
insure that human operated and autonomous VTOL aircraft can be piloted
independently by the blind and in-cabin features of such aircraft are
designed to be blind-friendly by including accessibility features for both
blind pilots and passengers. Waymo began operation in San Antonio last month
and we're looking forward to taking our first autonomous rideshare trip.
Autonomous air taxi service is coming to San Antonio in the very near
future.

Peter Donahue

From: NFBCS <nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Louis Maher via NFBCS
Sent: Friday, March 27, 2026 3:48 PM
To: nfbcs at nfbnet.orgs
Cc: Louis Maher <ljmaher03 at outlook.com>; chiser at nfb.org
Subject: Re: [NFBCS] Seeking Expertise for Feasibility of EarPilot
Collaboration

From: Hiser, Charles 
Sent: Wednesday, February 4, 2026 12:08 PM
To: 'johnmillerphd at hotmail.com' <johnmillerphd at hotmail.com
<mailto:johnmillerphd at hotmail.com> >
Subject: Seeking Expertise for Feasibility of EarPilot Collaboration

Dear John,

My name is Charles Hiser, one of the new Accessibility Excellence Advocates
on staff at the NFB Jernigan Institute. I was recently asked to collaborate
with a small team of pilots in Minnesota who are designing an app that
translates data from iPhone sensors into audio cues to enable a blind person
to fly a plane. They are seeking technical expertise with the hopes of
creating an interface that would reduce latency in the delivery of
information and improve the accuracy, as well as be intuitive for blind
people in a cockpit setting. They are aiming to test the idea on simulators
but also want to explore how this could be brought to an aircraft. The
ultimate goal is a kind of "Blind Flyer Challenge" modeled on the
philosophies of the Blind Driver Challenge that the NFB most recently
demonstrated with Dan Parker in 2022. I am reaching out to you to tap the
members of the Science and Engineering Division to put together a small team
of people who could speak to the theoretical feasibility of these goals.

While EarPilot has been proven to convey the information necessary to
successfully and safely complete limited bank, pitch and turn maneuvers, it
is still in the early testing phase of its lifecycle. There is no mechanism
to pass information to a blind pilot to complete more drastic maneuvers,
taxiing, landing or take-off. A sighted pilot must establish the aircraft in
clear practice airspace before passing control to the blind pilot. Because
of this, I would like to be clear in saying that the goal at the moment is
to explore the potential of this project. This is not yet an endorsement by
or partnership with the Federation.

My hope is to gather some experts with experience to brainstorm the
practicalities of constructing and testing an interface and related
components for a simulator setup that blind people could use to practice the
phases of flight, as well as a more far-reaching goal of rigging an aircraft
with necessary sensors to pass data with as little latency through a similar
interface, incorporating the EarPilot developer in the process. We would
then conference with the EarPilot team to talk over the concept and next
steps. Ideally, we would come away from the session (or sessions depending
on how things play out) with estimations of functional requirements,
timelines, rough costs and an overall understanding of what would be needed
to accomplish these goals. If all goes well, I would then propose this to
President Riccobono to seek approval for collaboration.

Transparently, I do not know what backgrounds would be the most useful for
SED to bring to this initiative. Your understanding of the membership would
be invaluable in reaching out to potential interested parties. Please stress
that this is still in very early stages and is not yet an NFB project, but
we hope to understand enough of the practical pieces to make a strong
proposal to President Riccobono in hopes of officially collaborating with
the team.

Information about EarPilot, including the open source code of the iPhone app
and demo videos, can be found at:

https://eclecticode.com/earpilot/

Thanks so much for any help and connections you can provide. As an aviation
enthusiast, I would love to see this dream become reality. It would be a
powerful message for the NFB to send, of course, but more to the point, it
would be another concrete demonstration that blind people can do anything we
want with the right tools at our disposal.

Thanks,

Charles Hiser CPACC

JAWS Certified, NVDA Certified Expert
Accessibility Excellence Advocate, Education and Employment
200 East Wells Street, Baltimore, MD 21230

410-659-9314, extension 2239|  <mailto:chiser at nfb.org> chiser at nfb.org 

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work together to help blind people live the lives they want.

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