Hyundai Rolls Out New “Quiet Taxis” With Deaf Drivers In South Korea

DeafNiche.com – A grand-scale project that was in testing stage for over a year became public in 2019; the brand-new “Quiet Taxis” hit the streets of South Korea with all deaf drivers. The new Quiet Taxis are part of Hyundai Group’s project to employ more able-bodied deaf citizens. Hyundai Group focused on developing and installing the latest technology into their cars…[including] features for deaf drivers: 1) Flashing lights and vibrations in steering wheels: Built in sensors that alert the driver with vibrations. The same happens when sirens are detected along with flashing lights on the steering wheel, cuing the driver to pull over. If another driver honks at the taxi, the steering wheel’s lights will flash too. 2) HUD display shows the road ahead: The reflected light display on the driver’s dash shows real-time information to the driver. Obstacles, oncoming cars, honking, and sirens are all shown in this display. 3) Built-in tablets for driver-passenger communication: The tablets support speech-to-text; passengers can speak directly to the tablet and it will automatically type out for the driver. Passengers can choose a destination from the map and plugs into the driver’s GPS. With these three key technologies and an impressively low accident rate of 0.012% for deaf drivers in South Korea, the Quiet Taxi is on its way to becoming mainstream.