FutureFive New Zealand - Consumer technology news & reviews from the future
Ford’s new window can help the visually impaired “see” the road
Wed, 2nd May 2018
FYI, this story is more than a year old

From rolling hills to mountain ranges, views make any road trip memorable, but for visually impaired passengers this is part of the experience that they miss.

A prototype smart car window aims to change this, by enabling blind or partially-sighted people to visualise passing scenery through touch.

Feel The View takes pictures that are turned into high-contrast monochrome images.

These are then reproduced on the glass using special LEDs. 

By touching the image, different shades of grey vibrate with a range of 255 intensities, allowing passengers to touch the scene and rebuild in their mind the landscape in front of them.

Feel The View was conceived and developed by Ford's team in Italy and GTB Roma, in collaboration with Aedo, a start-up that specialises in devices for the visually impaired.

Ford spokesman Mac Alu Saffi says, “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.

You can see the device in action here: