Autonomous Vehicles: A Game-Changing Tech for Blind and Disabled People?
By: Phillip Wilcox
Tags: Self Driving Cars, Blindness, Disability Assistance, Autonomous Vehicles, Technology

When I started writing my book, when I had finished writing my first draft, submitted it and started trying to raise money for it to be published, people were curious about why would you write a book about driverless cars? People who know me know that I am someone who studies policy. I am not an engineer and I am fairly hopeless when it comes to even basic technology. So why would I devote countless hours of my life to research and write a book over the past year devoted to one of the most complex technologies in the world, the autonomous vehicle?

I explain my motivation for writing this book in the Introduction to The Future is Autonomous: The U.S. and China Race to Develop the Driverless Car.

In 2012, while I was studying for my PhD in the Politics and International Relations Program at the University of Southern California, I suffered near fatal injuries as the result of a fall from three stories. My spleen was severely damaged in the fall and had to be removed. Both my wrists were severely broken. Because I suffered massive head trauma, the optic nerve in my left eye was completely destroyed and there was partial damage to my right optic nerve, causing slight tunnel vision.

In my recovery process, I learned about new technological advances to help people with vision difficulties. One of these devices is the Kurzweil program which reads digital articles or books to me. This program allowed me to return to my graduate program two years after my accident to research and write my MA thesis. This allowed me to graduate with an MA in international relations. I have also been using this program to conduct research for this book.

I continue to find new ways to manage my life as someone with vision difficulties, such as scanning my surroundings closely whenever I am walking in public. This allows me to make sure that I do not fall or bump into someone. I have become reliant on public transportation. Because of this, I was unable to see my dad for six months when DC closed the metro I take to travel to DC due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I was unable to see him, even though he only lives roughly seventeen miles away. I feel blessed my injuries were not much worse, however, and that I am still alive.

After recovering from my injuries, I became passionate about finding out more and advocating for autonomous vehicles. They could give me and millions of other blind, disabled, or elderly people greater transportation freedom. In my research, I discovered their other commercial and safety benefits. I sincerely hope you will join me in advocating for this vital technology after reading this book.

In my book, I discuss the efforts of the blind community to push for autonomous vehicles. I also point out that, despite all of the potential benefits that these vehicles could provide to elderly, blind, or disabled people, the support is not unanimous. There are still some questions and misgivings that people in the blind community have about them. After all, this is a new technology, and it can be very dangerous if unsafe vehicles are allowed to drive on public roads.

The potential long-term benefits of autonomous vehicles are vast. I will focus on several benefits which directly or indirectly effect millions of people. These benefits will also require changes in how Americans have done things in the past for the impact to be felt on a large scale. These long-term benefits include greater freedom of mobility for blind, disabled, or elderly people, reduced traffic congestion, and the possible reduction of vehicle carbon dioxide emissions.

In one demonstration of autonomous vehicles from an article in The MIT Technology Review, the parking lot of Perkins School for the Blind was converted into a testing ground for autonomous vehicles. Optimus Ride, a startup from Cambridge, Massachusetts, drove students and staff on a fixed track in an autonomous vehicle resembling a golf cart. When asked about the experience, principle of the school Dave Power said autonomous vehicles would be “transformative” for people who are blind. He said, “For the first time they will be able to go to school, work, and community activities independently, regardless of distance.” He then pointed out there is tremendous enthusiasm for autonomous vehicles in the blind community both at Perkins and nationally.

Organizations for the blind have been working to promote the autonomous vehicle industry from its inception. The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the largest organization for blind people in the country. It has advocated for vehicles for the blind since the early 2000s when it organized a Blind Driver Challenge. In this challenge, the NFB encouraged universities and other organizations to create and adopt nonvisual interfaces for vehicles. They have since worked with companies, such as Waymo, to incorporate accessibility features for blind people.

Another organization, the American Council for the Blind (ACFB), is a national grassroots advocacy group. The ACFB tracks early autonomous vehicle adopter states’ laws concerning autonomous vehicles to ensure they do not prohibit blind people from using them.

While accessibility options may be more of a niche issue for most people, autonomous vehicle industry leaders have lent their support. After introducing his company Waymo, CEO John Krafcik discussed this issue at the 2019 IAA Auto Show in Frankfurt, Germany. He said, “Beyond safety, the freedom that comes with a driver’s license isn’t even a possibility (for many people).” He continued by saying, “In many developed countries more than twenty percent of the population isn’t able to drive due to vision impairment or some other physical disability.” Both enthusiastic national and regional organizations and industry leaders have taken my limited vision and millions of other visually impaired, blind, and disabled people’s struggles to heart.

I had a conversation with a woman from an organization for the blind who asked to remain anonymous. The opinion is actually fairly mixed with her colleagues in the blind community. She said, “There are people who are in favor of autonomous vehicles and there are people like me who do not want to ride in these vehicles because they are worried about liability concerns.” This surprised me, and my only response to this question was what I believe is the truth. Liability is a concern and still needs to be worked out with state or federal regulation, or both, for autonomous vehicles.

This is not a concern limited to the blind community given the incredibly litigious society in the US. I will discuss liability and insurance questions in greater detail in my chapter on the policy problems in the US.

I started following the development of the autonomous vehicle industry and became passionate about their development because of my vision difficulties. This was one of the main reasons why I decided to write this book. It was very refreshing for me to see organizations devoted to helping blind people that are actively pushing for legislation at the state and national level to promote autonomous vehicle legislation. It was even more refreshing to learn companies in the autonomous vehicle industry were receptive to these organizations’ wishes to make the vehicles more accessible to blind people. This gave me hope that in the future, autonomous vehicles would provide people like me with greater freedom of mobility.

I have high hopes that, when the technology is fully mature and safe, autonomous vehicles will be a tool to greatly improve the lives of many people. Companies such as Waymo in Arizona and Chevy Cruise in the San Francisco Bay Area are already offering driverless taxi services. Numerous autonomous trucking companies are preparing to assist the truck driver shortage in the U.S. to help support the vital life blood of the American economy in the logistics supply chain. Similar companies will be doing the same to help the supply chain for countries all over the world.

I hope that I am right and that AVs offer a chance of greater transportation freedom to me and millions of other blind, disabled, or elderly people! Autonomous vehicles are here to stay. Enjoy the ride!

Want to learn more about how autonomous vehicles could benefit the blind community, people with disabilities, or the elderly in accordace with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? Learn about this and many more transportation and commercial benefits that these new vehicles can provide in my book The Future is Autonomous: The U.S. and China Race to Develop the Driverless Car.

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