Ford Reveals Feel The View Smart Window for the Blind
Ford Motor Company has revealed a unique technology prototype that would allow blind and partially blind passengers to use their sense of touch to enjoy scenic drives.
The Feel The View smart window features a device that takes pictures of landscapes passing by a vehicle and transforms them into high-contrast monochrome images. Those images are translated to LED smart glass via vibrations. The intensity of the vibration is indicative of gray scale, giving the passenger a sense of what’s visible around the vehicle through touch — the deeper the gray, the stronger the vibration. An AI voice assistant then gives the passenger a sense of what they’re feeling by telling them what they’re feeling.
How the Feel The View Smart Window Works
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“We seek to make people’s lives better and this was a fantastic opportunity to help blind passengers experience a great aspect of driving,” said Kuda Takura, Ford Motor Company of South Africa spokesperson. “The technology is advanced, but the concept is simple — and could turn mundane journeys into truly memorable ones.”
Ford’s Feel The View smart window was developed by Ford of Italy and GTB Roma in partnership with Aedo, a startup specializing in tools to aid the visually impaired.
Ford has said that the technology is merely a prototype that is not currently slated for any kind of mass production, but the potential to enrich the lives of the blind and visually impaired by letting them experience some of the wonders of the open road certainly seems to be an avenue worth further exploration.
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Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.