'It's a great first step,' Majerus added. 'As far as the differences between human instructions and those given by the voice in the Blind Driver Challenge car, the car's instructions are very precise.'

'You use the technology to act on the environment -- the driving course -- in a very orderly manner. In some cases, the human passenger will be vague, 'turn left' -- does that mean just a small turn to the left, or are we going for large amounts of turn,' said Majerus.

Also driving the vehicle was Mark Riccobono, from Baltimore, the executive director of the Jernigan Institute, who also is blind. He called his test drive historic. 'This is sort of our going to the moon project,' he said.

In 2004 Jernigan Institute challenged university research teams to develop a vehicle that would one day allow the blind to drive. Virginia Tech was the only university in the nation to accept the non-profit institution's call two years later, said Dennis Hong, director of the Robotics and Mechanisms Lab, part of Virginia Tech.