Edited from a New England Council (newenglandcouncil.com) report

“Researchers at the University of Maine’s Virtual Environment and Multimodal Interaction Lab (VEMI) are working on cutting-edge technology to contribute to the development of self-driving cars and virtual reality. The VEMI lab recently won a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Inclusive Design Challenge for $300,000 to fund research for autonomous vehicles.

“The VEMI lab was founded by Dr. Rick Corey and Dr. Nick Giudice in 2008 with the idea of creating a space that students and faculty from different disciplines can come together to create technology-based solutions to global problems. With this new federal funding, VEMI lab scientists will create a ride-hailing app targeted at helping older adults and the visually impaired. The app would use electric cars that would be maintained at a central hub and use a payment system based on membership rather than a per ride. The autonomous vehicles would help older adults and people who are visually impaired access safe rides in such areas as rural Maine where access to public transportation or ride shares can be hard to find.

“Dr. Corey said, ‘[W]e don’t want to be constrained to the classroom or the traditional lab. We’re in the business of trying to make the world a slightly better place, and to break down the barriers between technology and people.’’’