Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 HEALTH
Tuesday 17 april 2018

Driverless cars give hope to blind - are automakers onboard?

By JASON DEAREN pants interact with vehicle-
OCALA, Fla. (AP) — In 2012, control software in what
Steve Mahan, who is blind, appears to be a self-driving
climbed into the driver's vehicle, and the vehicle's
seat of a self-driving car driver, hidden behind a
and rolled up to the drive- partition, uses instructions
thru of a Taco Bell in a from the software to drive
video that's been viewed to the right place. Partici-
more than 8 million times pants don't know that a
online. human driver is at the con-
The piece, produced by trols.
Google, captured the po- Researchers at the Massa-
tential of autonomous-car chusetts Institute of Tech-
technology to change nology, Texas A&M Uni-
the lives of the visually im- versity and the U.S. Army
paired. Research Laboratory also
"It was my first time behind are working on accessibility
the steering wheel in seven issues for driverless vehicles
years and was absolutely for blind and other people
amazing," Mahan said. with disabilities.
Self-driving-car advocates At Waymo, Google’s self-
say that in addition to help- driving-car company that
ing the disabled, the ve- Jernigan Institute. an SUV and began speak- and others through col- started nearly a decade
hicles will allow people to "How about instead of ing to a computer screen in laboration with the Florida ago, officials say visually
do other tasks while driving Taco Bell, we demonstrate front of her. Center for the Blind in Oca- impaired employees con-
and make roadways safer a blind person indepen- "Where do you want to la, he's figuring out the spe- tribute to design and re-
by removing human error. dently operating an auton- go?" the computer's voice cific needs blind people search. While no specific
But six years after Google's omous vehicle, dropping responded. have using self-driving cars, system for blind riders has
viral video, national advo- off his/her kids at school on Van Etten, who is legally and using his software to been completed, the com-
cates for the estimated 1.3 the way to work, and may- blind, said "Kmart," and off solve problems. pany says it’s developing a
million legally blind people be stopping by a Starbucks the car sped, the comput- "If I'm a visually impaired mobile app, Braille labels
in the U.S. are worried the on the way?" er's voice intoning, "Central person and I don't have the and audio cues.
industry is not factoring The concerns are fueling Christian Church on the ability to verify visually that Spokespeople for General
their needs into the design new research outside the left" and other landmarks I'm at the appropriate lo- Motors Cruise AV group,
of the new technology, a auto industry to develop as they coasted down the cation, how do I know that Nissan North America Inc.
mistake they say will make data and software meant street. When the driver it's not dropping me off in a and Toyota Research Insti-
the cars more expensive to help ensure the needs pulled the car up to the field somewhere?" Brinkley tute all said the companies
and harder for them to ac- of the blind are met when store, the voice told Van said. "In the case of au- are committed to accessi-
cess. autonomous cars become Etten which side to exit tonomous cars, hopefully bility in general but offered
"Although we have been commonplace. from and mentioned some accessibility will be moved no further comment.
held up as obvious benefi- In a University of Florida of the obstacles she'd face to the forefront by some of Mahan, the man famous
ciaries of the technology in study, blind people are between the car and the the research." for the YouTube video who
conversations and presen- using experimental soft- store entrance. Brinkley doesn't have ac- still consults with Waymo,
tations, this will have just ware that could be easily University of Florida re- cess to a self-driving vehicle said he’s cautiously opti-
been exploitation if the sys- installed in cars and peo- searcher Julian Brinkley so instead uses a process mistic. They’re working on
tems are not accessible," ples' phones. On a recent developed the program, developed by Stanford it. I don’t push. They expose
said Anil Lewis, executive sunny winter day in central which he has named "At- University researchers in a me to what they’re work-
director of the National Florida, Sharon Van Etten las." Using data he collects specially configured con- ing on, and so I’m patiently
Federation of the Blind's eased into the backseat of from users like Van Etten ventional vehicle. Partici- waiting.”q

Toyota to start deploying

vehicle-to-vehicle tech in 2021

DETROIT (AP) — Toyota says Coetzee (Cute-ZEE) says
it will start equipping mod- the cars would use dedi-
els with technology to talk cated airwaves to send sig-
to other vehicles starting nals up to 984 feet (300 me-
in 2021, as it tries to push ters). Coetzee hopes other
safety communications automakers will join. Others
forward. The company are testing it and standards
says most of its U.S. models have been developed so
should have the feature by they can communicate.
the mid-2020s. Vehicle-to- Toyota is leading on auto-
vehicle signals can warn matic emergency braking,
In this Sunday, April 15, 2018, others of heavy braking making it standard on all
photo an unsold 2018 Prius sits ahead or that another ve- but four models. The indus-
on a Toyota dealer's lot in the hicle is headed into their try has agreed to make it
south Denver suburb of Engle- path. Vice President of standard on all models in
wood, Colo. Product Planning Andrew 2022.q
Associated Press