Blind ‘drivers’ try to shape US push for driverless cars

File photograph shows the rear of a Lexus SUV equipped with Google self-driving sensors during a media preview of Google's prototype autonomous vehicles in Mountain View, California September 29, 2015. Britain said on March 12, 2016 it will begin trialling driverless cars on motorways for the first time in 2017, as it moves towards its goal of allowing autonomous cars to take to the streets by 2020. Finance minister George Osborne will announce plans on Wednesday to test vehicles on motorways and say the government will bring forward proposals to remove regulatory barriers to the technology, the Treasury said. Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O unit Google wants to eventually be able to deploy fully autonomous vehicles without human controls, and major automakers are racing to develop vehicles that can drive themselves at least part of the time. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage/Files

Anil Lewis was behind the wheel of his Ford Mustang convertible on a sunny Atlanta day in 1988, when he nearly hit a pedestrian who appeared in a crosswalk ahead of him, seemingly out of nowhere. 

It was then Lewis realized his deteriorating eyesight would soon end his days behind the wheel. Now 53 and legally blind, the prospect of fully autonomous vehicles gives him hope of returning to the road on his own.