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Mark Anthony Riccobono, a blind man, completed the Daytona circuit without support

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Mark Anthony Riccobono, a blind man, managed to go through the entire Daytona circuit behind the steering wheel of a Ford Escape hybrid without any support from anyone. However, the people from Virginia Tech developed a special system which helped Mark to drive safely the American model on the circuit. Even the model has been fitted with various systems and sensors.

Mark Anthony Riccobono driving the Ford Escape hybrid
Mark Anthony Riccobono driving the Ford Escape hybrid

The laser sensors guided by the main computer managed to create a map of the circuit and thanks to the special gear including the gloves weared by the blind driver but also the special seats, he managed to complete a lap at the Daytona circuit.

Mark Anthony Riccobono driving the Ford Escape hybrid
Mark Anthony Riccobono driving the Ford Escape hybrid

As he couldn’t see anything, the way that systems communicated with Mark was vibrations, both the seats and gloves were sending information by this way. Moreover, Mark had to avoid a variety of obstacles which were designed to make its mission even harder but finally he managed to drive its Ford Escape hybrid without a scratch.

Mark Anthony Riccobono driving the Ford Escape hybrid
Mark Anthony Riccobono driving the Ford Escape hybrid
Andrei Ursu
the authorAndrei Ursu
Andrei is one of the oldest automotive journalists of Automotorblog and has written more than 3000 articles for our publication. He has been passionate about cars since he was a small child, and he joined our team of writers in 2009. In addition to his passion for cars, he is also passionate about music. In his free time, he composes songs and sings them, which also brought him real success in the musical field.

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