This story hits close to home as a visually impaired person myself. Honda is developing a new accessibility tech that aims to help the blind and visually impaired experience safer, more immersive, and more enjoyable journeys. It’s called the Honda Scenic Audio, an application which the Japanese carmaker is working on, in partnership with Perkins School for the Blind‘s Howe Innovation Center.
The Honda Scenic Audio is a next-generation screen reading app that goes beyond traditional apps like the Google TalkBack and Apple VoiceOver for Android and iOS devices, respectively.
What sets the Honda Scenic Audio apart from the aforementioned traditional screen reading softwares is that it’s the world’s first AI-powered blind and visually impaired assistive app that incorporates gizmos like computer vision, generative AI, satellite imaging, geotargeting, weather reports, among others. These work together to provide the user with a detailed guided description of the surroundings.
Unlike TalkBack or VoiceOver that reads only what’s shown on the device’s screen via voice-assistive technology, the app takes on the role of a personal tour guide that narrates to the user a multitude of elements in his or her surroundings, making for a more immersive and enjoyable travel. It’s like having a travel buddy.
According to Honda, the app was “built to create multifaceted narratives with a literary tone and expressive descriptions with nuanced adjectives, recognizable sounds, comparisons of heights and terrain and even the temperature outside.“
The app has no scheduled official launch yet. It’s currently under beta-testing with the blind and visually impaired communities of the Perkins School for the Blind’s Howe Innovation Center. Through constant testing and feedback, Honda is fine-tuning the app with real-world user experience as guide.
This is a big step to a brighter future for us blind and visually impaired people. Inclusivity through accessibility and understanding is a hot topic in the Persons With Disability (PWD) community these days, now that technology is making huge progress with AI.
A prime example of putting AI and technology to good use, here’s to hoping that the final version for public use of the Honda Scenic Audio will run smoothly in conjunction with currently existing voice assistive screen reading apps like TalkBack and VoiceOver. Life for PWDs is already challenging as it is, and it won’t do much good if users will be required to delete their currently existing assistive apps that worked for them for so long, just to accommodate this new one.
Personally, even though I could still see out of my left eye as I’m low vision, I’m excited for this app as it could help me travel safer and more worry-free. Who knows, given enough time for research and development, the Honda Scenic Audio could potentially become a driving aid, making my dreams of driving a car on public roads come true… someday.
