Ford’s “Feel the View” Device for Passengers with Visual Impairments

May 2018 – In a recent article on CNN, Ford’s “Feel the View” device was featured for its ability to let users that are visually impaired “feel” the world outside car windows. Designed in partnership with Aedo, an Italian startup that focuses on innovative technology solutions for the visually impaired, and GT Roma, the device uses an external facing camera which is mounted via suction onto a car’s window. Similar to Braille, the device offers vibrations of varying intensity so that the user can feel changes in landscapes with their finger. The camera captures continuous images of what’s outside the car and converts that information into a grayscale image.The gray hues of that image are then translated into up to 255 different vibrations, so users can “trace” landscape features such as hills and mountain ridges. Feel the View joins a growing number of novel technologies that aim to provide users with more information about their environment and improve person-environment navigation and interaction. 

 

In addition to the translation of visual data into vibrational feedback, the Feel the View device integrates a smart voice assistant that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI) features. This virtual assistant can provide context for the passenger of what the device is seeing, such as informing them if they are “looking at” a skyscraper, a river, etc. Feel the View is still under development but serves as another example of Ford’s commitment to providing innovative solutions to travel and accessibility. [Source: Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN]