Cars for the blind? The proof of concept is already here

I've previously thought about a world where cars were all fully computer-driven and fully interactive. Wouldn't it be easy if cars were automated, completely taking the human factor out of driving. Cars could communicate with signs and markers along the roadways, making turns to arrive at their destination, as well as communicating with other cars so that all cars stay proper distances from one another. It might make driving boring for sighted drivers who want to prove they can handle the challenges of the road, but it would be a much safer road for all. I truly believe this could be achieved with today's technology.

Apparently, according to this
article in The Atlantic,
I'm not alone in that idea. As a matter of fact, the article takes this idea to the next level where a driver can be blind using today's technology. Better yet, the other cars on the road don't have to be automated!

Don't laugh; apparently its already been proven if what is reported there is true.

The only problem with the whole idea is the other drivers on the road. If one of them suddenly cuts in front of the automated vehicle, requiring a quick, evasive action, one has to wonder what will happen. Again, it is that human interaction that makes driving dangerous, not the automated car, even when the driver was blind. If all the cars were automated, then the poor decisions of the other drivers wouldn't be a factor.

Then again, what if the computer of the automated vehicle failed in the middle of a trip, while motoring down the road. That would result in a real crash, not just a system crash. How do you reboot from one of those?

In not too distant future, cars may drive themselves

Of all the associated losses that accompanied my onset blindness, the one that has probably bothered me the most over this timespan was the loss of independence. When I say this, I mean the overall independence that comes from being “able-bodied” and includes the ability to jump in a car and go wherever I want, whenever I want. That independence means that I wouldn’t have to coordinate my schedule with anybody else, that I wouldn’t have to wait until it was convenient for somebody else to take me where I need to go.

Even if it was just down to Dairy Queen to grab a Blizzard, I want the ability to do that and, I’ll bet that most people with a severe disability would like this same ability.

From what General Motors is reporting, it may not be too long before we c a
car that drives itself.

It is neat to envision a world like the one being described in this article, one where human error is taken out of the transportation picture. Some have claimed that when we remove the human factor from driving, our roads will be exponentially safer.

About ten years ago, I heard Paul Harvey reporting in one of his daily commentaries about a car that did all the driving and the people in the car just rode along to the destination they gave it. This was, of course, on some safe and secure test track, but Mr. Harvey reported that the car performed flawlessly. The only downside was that the passengers who would have normally been driving the vehicle said that they did not like it. Their complaint? They had nothing to do during the trip and the drive was now very boring.

I don’t know if the drive will be boring, but, I for one, will look forward to the day that I can get in a car and go where I want to…without my wife cringing at the thought of me alone in the car.