Tonight got away from me, but I wanted to post this video of a man with a visual impairment using Google’s prototype autonomous car to get around town:
I’m always cautious about overhyping new technologies and I don’t expect to see fleets of robotic cars on the road for at least several more years, but the video does illustrate how valuable such vehicles could be to people with disabilities. Access to reliable transportation is a huge barrier for people living with all manner of impairments. Public transit and paratransit are certainly available to many, but do little to help people living in rural or exurban areas. The ability to get in a car and be safely driven to one’s destination of choice would be a life-altering experience to those of us who have always had to rely on human assistance.
Of course, whether such a car would be affordable to most people with disabilities is a question for another time.
Thanks to Andrew Sullivan for the tip.
