This is a very busy week at FAR.  A combination of creating our write-up for our Inclusive Design Challenge deadline of May 1st is well underway, and at the same time we are working on videos demonstrating the incredible technology we have created over the past year or so.  The question is how does one go about demonstrating a technology that in production will interface with an Automated Vehicle when you do not have an AV to test on?  The answer is simple but a lot of work.  You create an AV Simulator!  If all goes as planned, our AV simulator will take commands from our FAVI system and simulate a drive (with a real driver following the simulator commands).  The simulator will take commands from the User’s FAVI app and respond appropriately.  The goal will be to demonstrate requesting your vehicle, successfully locating the vehicle, driving the route to the drop-off point, and then successfully finding the entrance to the destination location.  It’s one thing to talk about what a technology can do, but the truth is that it’s always more helpful to see it in action.  It’s a lot of work to put a good demonstration together, but we are hopeful we’ll get there and really show the value of what we have created.

Automated Vehicle Simulator

This week also began the deployment of our bluetooth technology at the Minster School in Nottinghamshire, UK.  We are very excited to bring greater independence to their visually impaired students.

FAR Indoor Beacons

Finally, this week we also began the deployment of beacons on the bus system in Pensacola, Florida.  These beacons will ride on each of their buses as well as being mounted on their bus stops.  This deployment will help the visually impaired and those that have difficulties navigating more easily locate their bus stops and give them the ability to always know where their bus is on their route even if they miss the announcements.  We see a future of switching from bluetooth to UWB beacons for our transportation systems to give even more accuracy and independence to our users.

FAR Bus Stop Beacons

We love busy weeks and making an impact to improve the lives of people.  We look forward to continuing to develop and create before our final Inclusive Design Challenge presentations in June.

FAR Flies North  to Autonomous Shuttles Event in Ann Arbor

It’s cold outside, but February’s been hot for FAR!

This post shares a couple highlights since returning from a 4-way collaboration autonomous vehicle event in Ann Arbor Michigan, led by FAR’s strategic partner !Important  and DOT Inclusive Design Challenge competitor May Mobility.

When Hannah Osborn, CEO of !Important, picked me up from my hotel in her !Important demo van, I was elated to say the least. Reason being, FAR and !Important are working hard behind the scenes to continue technical integration ahead of all FAR users being protected by !Important’s digital seat belt and FAR’s patent pending ultra-wide band system on !Important’s demo van. We’re certainly stronger and safer together.

The A2Go event was hosted in the garage in Ann Arbor where May Mobility parks their autonomous vehicles overnight. It was fascinating to see May Mobility’s working product in association with their proposal for DOT’s Inclusive Design Challenge.

May Mobility has 4 Lexus RX450h  and 1 modified Polaris Gem that is wheelchair accessible operating in the Ann Arbor area. One person can ride in the wheelchair accessible Polaris Gem but the ramp into the vehicle requires a person to manually open and close it after the rider boards the vehicle. This is executed by staffed personnel funded by a grant secured by May Mobility.

The event was outstanding, and so were the speakers, but the conversations before, after, and during with friends and colleagues holds some of the most meaning and value for FAR. Like long-time friend John Shutko at Ford, Victoria Waters at Mcity, and Dan Bartz at Volkswagen.

Being a car person, one moment that made my hair stand was checking out Dan’s Audi A4 e-tron with level 3 autonomy, with LiDAR to prove it!  Dan mentioned it only had 500 horsepower and was the slower version… Tease!

While not the exact same version, you can check out Audi’s A4 e-tron here. Thanks so much Dan for showing us your Audi A4 e-tron! My heart was pumping.

So much appreciation for !Important, May Mobility, Mcity, and Prentice 4M for attracting such an awesome crowd of professionals in the AV space. Can’t wait until the next one.

The US Department of Transportation just released the presentations of each Inclusive Design Challenge semi-finalist

On Monday January 24 and 26, each semi-finalist showcased the advancements made on their original proposed Inclusive Design Challenge prototype to ensure autonomous vehicles are accessible, usable, and enable people with disabilities to independently access vocational, educational, medical, and other critical destinations.

Semi-finalists showcased a wide range of solutions including numerous AV provider agnostic apps, AI aided navigation, automated wheelchair tie-downs, ultra-wide band, Bluetooth , and GPS capabilities. Solutions ranged across sensory, mobility, and cognitive disability types.

Foresight Augmented Reality’s Autonomous Vehicle Accessibility Solution

We were the third semi-finalist to present on Day 2 of the Inclusive Design Challenge Charrette. Due to the presentation’s 10- minute time limit, our strategy was to focus on the competitive advantages and unique capabilities to separate our solution from the rest of the semi-finalists.

In our presentation, we introduced FAR’s business to the audience, provided a brief overview of the presentation, and then a video demonstration of two totally blind travelers finding a simulated autonomous vehicle without human intervention.

Even more amazing is that both travelers were not provided any context about their relationship to the AV. This includes their distance, direction, or any instruction except being told they needed to use the app to find the simulated autonomous vehicle independently.

Here’s what FAR showcased during our Inclusive Design Charrette presentation:

1. A functional prototype evidenced by a demonstration video that simulated the experience with both audio and visual accessibility features.
2. Multiple commercial applications applicable to indoor, outdoor, public transit, ride-share, and autonomous vehicles.
3. Incorporating technology partners !Important and what3words to provide users even more safety and capability
4. How our solution supports sensory and cognitive disabilities with audio, text, haptic, and visual accessibility features

Day 1 Inclusive Design Challenge Charrette semi-finalists included:

• AbleLink Smart Living Technologies
• Carnegie Mellon University
• May Mobility & UMTRI
• University of Kansas
• University of Maine

You can see the day 1 presentations by clicking here and using passcode N02C

Day 2 presentation semi-finalists included:

• Boston University
• Clemson University
• Foresight Augmented Reality
• Purdue University
• Waymo
• And you can see the day 2 presentations by clicking here using passcode 5v@eXiu9

What are your accessibility goals?

To discuss how you can ensure people with disabilities can use and access your business, signage, or transit system, reach out to Tanner.

TannerG@ForesightAR.com

And subscribe to the blog if you want updates on new developments, capabilities, announcements, and the results of the Inclusive Design Challenge with a $2 million purse up for grabs!

We were excited to be interviewed by Fred Blankenship of Atlanta’s ABC affiliate WSB TV News about our new technology being developed for the visually impaired in the DOT Inclusive Design Challenge.  We spoke about how our company came about through David’s experience getting hit by a vehicle, how our technology will be indispensable for the visually impaired when taking Autonomous Vehicles, and how the DOT Inclusive Design Challenge is helping this technology to happen.  Not everything we spoke about aired, but the story ran on the 4pm, 5:30pm, and 6pm news.  The 5:30p and 6pm news anchors spoke about the DOT Inclusive Design Challenge, but the 4pm news did not mention it, and that is the one they posted on their website with the Inclusive Design Challenge being mentioned in the text.  It was an exciting day!  You can read and watch it below:

Team FAR’s WSB TV News Story