UK: Technology to provide real-time information for visually impaired passengers is being tested on the West Midlands Metro, where a CAF tram and a number of stops have been fitted with 5G equipment in a project being undertaken with the West Midlands 5G group, transport infotainment specialist GoMedia and its parent company Icomera
Using the accessibility technology developed in collaboration with the Royal National Institute of the Blind, information is transmitted to passengers’ mobile devices over 5G cellular networks. Future possibilities could include providing all passengers with services such as live TV, radio and streamed content.
John Worsfold, Innovation & Technology Implementation Manager at RNIB, said ‘technology has and continues to open up the world for people with sight loss, and this opportunity has the potential to increase access to relevant information whilst travelling for blind and partially sighted people. We’re delighted to be supporting this initiative in raising the bar of independently accessing information whilst making journeys’.
