Daytona International Speedway is synonymous with speed, auto racing, and . . . blind people? Virginia Tech’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa), along with a National Federation of a Blind (NFB), not long ago debuted the sight-optional and street-legal SUV at the famed racetrack. Dr. Dennis Hong as well as his students initial let blind folks drive a dune buggy but the help of the sighted copilot in 2009 — as a initial step to achieving the goal of the street-legal SUV for the sightless crowd. The SUV in subject was written for a NFB’s Blind Driver Challenge, and is versed with a drive-by-wire scheme — additionally seen in a RoMeLa autonomous vehicle — that was mutated for use with RoMeLa’s SpeedStrip and DriveGrip pleasing interface technology. It works by regulating the laser rangefinder to map a surrounding area, relaying report for increase in speed as well as braking to a driver by rumbling a SpeedStrip chair, as well as passing along turning info by vibrations in a DriveGrip gloves. The system was not grown only for a role of removing blind drivers on the road, however, as Virginia Tech suggests that the record could additionally be used in gaming applications. We’re not utterly ready to see blind drivers upon tangible roads only yet, but because shouldn’t our sight-impaired friends get to suffer Gran Turismo 5 with a rest of us? Video’s after a mangle.

Via Engadget