Ford develops Feel The View – a smart window for blind passengers
From rolling hills to mountain ranges, views make any road trip memorable. However, for blind passengers this is part of the experience they miss. Until now, that is.
Just announced by Ford is a prototype smart car window which aims to change the experience for the blind and partially-sighted people by enabling them to visualise passing scenery through touch.
The smart window for blind passengers turns images into vibrations that they can feel as the car is being driven.
Called Feel The View, the prototype works by taking pictures of the scenery which are then converted into different shades of grey. Each of these greys can vibrate with a range of 255 intensities, allowing passengers to touch the scene and rebuild in their mind the landscape in front of them.
Conceived and developed by Ford of Italy and GTB Roma, Feel The View was produced in collaboration with Aedo – an Italian start-up that specialises in devices for the visually impaired.
Says Marco Alù Saffi, Ford of Italy.
“We seek to make people’s lives better and this was a fantastic opportunity to help blind passengers experience a great aspect of driving. The technology is advanced, but the concept is simple – and could turn mundane journeys into truly memorable ones,”
Watch the YouTube video here to find out more about how the technology works: https://youtu.be/CDfqPMmNmmk
