Cars For The Blind

In the news today there was a story about researchers working on making a system that would give blind people to ability to drive. This would come in the form of a car that has sensors to notify the blind driver if they are near someone or something.

I'm not sure this is a good idea. Let me play Devil's Advocate here.

I live in Los Angeles where the majority of people on the road drive like they are stupid, distracted, or bat shit crazy. There are no sensors that could be created to deal with the random acts of rude, impatient, or stupid drivers encountered every damn day in Los Angeles.

So let's say some auditory sensor tells a blind driver there is some car or obstacle close by and they need to react. How do they react? How much do they react? They can't see how much to move away or slow down. They can't see what the obstacles are. When stopped on the 405 would the sensors in the car be overwhelmed by everything around it? Would the system then overwhelm the driver with crazy amounts of information? They are boxed in, and then a motorcycle splits the lane at 80 mph. What does the sensor tell the driver? How does the driver react to a split second threat which is now gone?

Driving requires sight. You need ot see what is happening not just immediately around you but a hundred yards to a half mile down the freeway. If there is a car doing something crazy, drunk or stupid in front of you, you need to see it so you can slow down or take action to avoid the crazy driver. If a driver is blind they can't anticipate the things they can't see that are not within the cars sensors.

Also, how would you know where to turn into a parking lot? Judge the distance and speed you need to slow down to make a safe entry into said parking lot? How do you park? Parallel park? How does the car tell you that a stop light has changed or is changing from red to green or vice versa? Or see someone is running a red light right after it changed for the blind driver? There are so many visual cues that drivers see, process and act upon without even realizing they are doing so. When I drive, I look for motion and movement from the sides to anticipate what might soon be happening.

Technology would be better suited to create a car that can drive itself. Complete auto-pilot from start to stop. Let the blind have one of those cars. But it could also be given to the elderly, paraplegics, epileptics, people who have 53 DUIs and shouldn't drive.