Whenever I heard the words ‘self-driving car’ I cringed at the idea of cars driving us everywhere we wanted to go. Of course, my mindset was around the fact that I love driving and enjoy the actions of turning the steering-wheel myself and stepping on the accelerator. I never really cared to see the benefits of self-driving cars… until now.
To illustrate the potential benefits of pursuing the development of an autonomous car, Google put a blind man behind the wheel of self-driving Prius on public roads.
The video features a man named Steve Mahan who is ‘well past legally blind.’ He said that the self-driving Prius would give him created independence.
Description of the video by Google –
We announced our self-driving car project in 2010 to make driving safer, more enjoyable, and more efficient. Having safely completed over 200,000 miles of computer-led driving, we wanted to share one of our favourite moments. Here’s Steve, who joined us for a special drive on a carefully programmed route to experience being behind the wheel in a whole new way. We organized this test as a technical experiment, but we think it’s also a promising look at what autonomous technology may one day deliver if rigorous technology and safety standards can be met. See the video below, the Google self-driving car drives blind-man around public roads.
Also see – Google Headquarters Tests Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging
