Blind people will soon feel view from car
A new method will allow blind people to experience the landscape, as they move their finger tips across a car window. “Feel the View” was invented by Ford, and the method involves a camera on the side window operated by the passenger. The pictures are translated into grey tones, which are reproduced by diodes in the window glass. The diodes vibrate at different frequencies, allowing the blind person to scan a detailed picture with his finger tips. Light areas in the landscape vibrate at a higher frequency than dark ones. The system prototype can reproduce pictures at 255 different frequencies.
The idea is inspired by haptic technology that is to expand our sensory impressions. In mobile phones and computers, the idea is that we are able to feel that we press a button as if it were a physical button.
Ford has not yet disclosed when “Feel the View” will be available to car buyers, but according to developers, the concept opens wide perspectives outside the car industry as well. The carmaker has named the method a brand new language that blind people in schools and institutions can benefit from to visualise the surroundings.