National Federation of the Blind and Verifone Add Voice to Cabs

The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and Verifone will work together to enhance the accessibility of Verifone's in-taxi technology for blind passengers by the end of this year, under an agreement that was recently reached by the two organizations. Verifone's in-taxi systems enable passengers to pay their cab fares with credit or debit cards and enjoy curated media content during taxi rides.

Currently, blind passengers can use the terminals by tapping the center of the screen to initiate an accessibility mode, which uses voice prompts to provide information about the fare and to guide the user through the payment process. Planned accessibility enhancements will include voicing information about the taxi's location, as well as other improvements to the user interface. Additionally, Verifone and NFB will discuss the feasibility of making other new features accessible if and when they are introduced.

"Verifone has already done outstanding work to make its taxicab units accessible to blind passengers, and we are delighted to work with the company to improve the user experience even more," said Mark Riccobono, president of the National Federation of the Blind, in a statement. "We commend Verifone for working with blind users to improve its systems and look forward to helping this great company set an even higher standard for accessibility in the taxicab industry."

"We are committed to providing a great experience for all users of our technology," Amos Tamam, senior vice president of taxi systems at Verifone, said in a statement. "We are delighted to work with the National Federation of the Blind to make sure that our systems are usable and accessible to blind taxicab passengers."

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