
Driverless Cars Could Make Life Easier For People With Special Needs
The buzz around Autonomous Cars and its future is growing everyday and there seems to be little, that one can do to contain it; such has been its growth. Now while pondering upon such benefits, there came a thought as to how these cars could revolutionize the concept of transportation for Disabled people toĀ get around their communities and even travel far from home.
Autonomous vehicle technology on its own is not enough to help these people become more independent, but simultaneous advances inĀ machine learningĀ andĀ artificial intelligenceĀ can enable these vehicles to understand spoken instructions, observe nearby surroundings and communicate with people. Together, these technologies can provide independent mobility with practical assistance that is specialized for each userās abilities and needs.
A lot of the necessary technology already exists, at least in preliminary forms. Google has asked aĀ blind person to test its autonomous vehicles. And Microsoft recently released an app called āSeeing AIā that helps visually impaired people better sense and understand the world around them. āSeeing AIā usesĀ machine learning,Ā natural language processing andĀ computer visionĀ to understand the world and describe it in words to the user.
At the Texas A&M University, researchers are currently developing machine-learning algorithms thatĀ behave like good human driversĀ do, mimicking how humans respond to unforeseen circumstances. With proper planning and research, autonomous vehicles can provide even more people with significantly more independence in their lives.