RoboNexus reports, "TORC, VA Tech, U.S. Military Creating Cutting-Edge Technologies by Partnering"

From a report by RoboNexus, Ellen Cotton writes, "TORC's modified Ford Escape is packed with non-visual interface devices technologies designed by VA Tech Engineering students to allow blind drivers to operate the vehicle, which it did on Jan. 29, 2011, at Daytona International Speedway as part of the ongoing Blind Driver Challenge. Technologies in the vehicle include the ByWire XGV mentioned above. It also includes gloves called DriveGrips and a seat cushion called SpeedStrip, which vibrate to give the driver certain cues that indicate directions to accelerate or halt, turn right or left. The vehicles can “see” obstacles and the road ahead through strategically placed laser range finders and cameras."

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Wired's Autopia Blog: 'Ford Proves That Blind Drivers Can Learn A Stick Shift'

Administrator's Note: This report by "Wired" magazine talks about a separate project to help the blind drive, but mentions in detail the Blind Driver Challenge...

Ford of Europe let 30 blind and visually impaired drivers get behind the wheel at their test track in Cologne, Germany in an attempt to give blind people a better understanding of automobiles and examine how they interact with cars.

Last week’s test drives put drivers in control of all vehicle inputs, responding to the directions of a sighted driving instructor. The fastest driver got their Fiesta up to 74 mph, and Ford reported that all drivers quickly mastered the fine art of a stick shift through feel and sound.

“Driving it was not a big problem for me,” said driver Katrin Berus of Kleve, Germany. “Operating clutch and gearshift was easier than I expected.”

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CPD's Newsflash profiles Sachin Pavithran

From the the Center for Persons with Disabilities' NewsFlash: "CPD employee was involved in the creation of a prototype car that the blind can drive"

The CPD's Sachin Pavithran is the CPD's assistive technology specialist and law and policy coordinator. He is also a member of the research and development committee of the National Federation of the Blind—and because of that connection he was involved in the development of a car that can be driven by someone who is blind.

The vehicle, a modified Ford Escape, debuted last month at the Rolex 24 in a pre-race demonstration at Daytona. Driver Mark Anthony Riccobono not only navigated 1.5 miles of the course but also avoided obstacles... Read more

Image from CPD's NewsFlash website

In Daytona: A photo album

A team of Virginia Tech College of Engineering graduate and undergraduate students helped make history January 29, 2011, at the Daytona International Speedway. As part of the ongoing Blind Driver Challenge, a blind man drove a specially-outfitted 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid SUV on 1.5 miles of the famed auto course. We've posted a photo album marking highlights of this unique occasion.

Image: National Federation of the Blind Jernigan Institute Executive Director and BDC driver Mark Riccobono takes on the famed Daytona track. Photo by Suzanne Shaffer, an art director at the National Federation of the Blind.

From 'Wired': High-Tech Car Allows the Blind to Drive

A Ford Escape poking along at 25 mph isn’t usually the most exciting event on the track at the Daytona International Speedway. Consider that the driver is blind, however, and that slow-moving Ford is an example of how technology can grant autonomy.

Mark Riccobono, a blind executive at the National Federation of the Blind, handled the curves, avoided obstacles thrown in his path from a van ahead of him and then passed that van. He did it in a vehicle built by students using off-the-shelf technology.

“That was fun because nobody expected that we’d do that,” Riccobono said. “We kept exactly what we were going to do on the track, we held that close to the vest and even our members didn’t know that was going to happen.”

Although we’re a long way from the day ... Read more

At the Daytona International Speedway, Mark Riccobono prepares to drive the Blind Driver Challenge car known as BRIAN. Photo by Steven D. A. Mackay

From Engadget: 'Hokies give (tactile) sight to the blind so they can drive...'

Daytona International Speedway is synonymous with speed, auto racing, and . . . blind people? Virginia Tech's Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa), along with the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), recently debuted its sight-optional and street-legal SUV at the famed racetrack. Dr. Dennis Hong and his students first let blind folks drive a dune buggy without the help of a sighted copilot in 2009 -- as a first step to achieving the goal of a street-legal SUV for the sightless crowd.

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Photo by Steven D. A. Mackay

Success at Daytona

A bit more than two hours ago Mark Riccobono made history by taking the wheel of the Blind Driver Challenge car and running the course at Daytona International Speedway. Mark said the feeling was one of the most exhilarating of his life. The director of the National Federation of the Blind’s Jernigan Institute said he appreciated more the chance to drive his family – wife and two children – around a parking lot. Paul D’angio, a doctoral at Virginia Tech, said today’s work capped 8 months of hard work, through rain, heat, snow and darkness. More to come tonight….

Photo by Steven D. A. Mackay

Sneak Peak: Daytona International Speedway

The Blind Driver Challenge vehicles at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona, Fla. Image courtesy Dennis Hong.

Blind Driver Challenge at Daytona's Rolex24

The second-generation Blind Driver Challenge vehicle is now at the world-famous Daytona International Speedway, just days away from its public demonstration at the Rolex 24 Race. There, thousands of race fans will watch as a blind person takes the wheel of this modified 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid SUV drive the in-field track. Also expected to be cheering in the stands: Hundreds of blind people who are part of the nonprofit Federation.

“This historic demonstration of a blind person independently driving an automobile will be a tremendous exhibition of the capacity of a blind person using innovative non-visual access technology to perform a task most people thought impossible for a blind person,” said Anil Lewis, director of strategic communications for the National Federation of the Blind. “The foundation of many misperceptions about blind people and blindness will be shaken.”

The Blind Deriver Challenge is part of a history making initiative – pitched by the Federation, and accepted by the Virginia Tech College of Engineering’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory -- that one day could allow blind people to drive an automobile. Partnering with the Federation and Virginia Tech is TORC Technologies, based in Blacksburg, Va.

The Rolex24event is a 24-hour endurance race for sports cars. The 49th running of the event is set for Jan. 29-30, 2011, at Daytona and will be accompanied by 24 hours of other events. The Blind Driver Challenge is scheduled to take the track at 11:30 a.m. (Eastern) Jan. 29. (Neither car will take the oval track.) The official Rolex 24 race starts at 3:30 p.m. Saturday and runs until 3:30 p.m. Sunday.

Added Dennis Hong, a Virginia Tech associate professor of mechanical engineering and director of RoMeLa: “As we stand on the race track of the Daytona International Speedway, the sheer scale of it takes our breath away. Imagining the tens of thousands of spectators cheering and watching the world's first public demo of our hard work makes my heart pound. ‘How many times in your life time do you think you have an opportunity to change the world?’ I ask my students. Developing technology to help the society, we are indeed changing the world right here, right now...”

Follow this blog, or join us on twitter for updates as the public demo nears. http://twitter.com/VTEngineering.

Image: One of the Blind Driver Challenge vehicles at the Virginia International Raceway in Danville, Va., on January 18, 2011. Photo by Steven Mackay