Steve Mahan 'drove' along a carefully-planned route on his first solo car trip since turning losing 95 per cent of his sight, stopping in at a Taco Bell restaurant and picking up his dry cleaning during the short journey in the specially adapted Toyota Prius.
As he set off for his drive in the preprogrammed car, designed by Google, Mr Mahan said: "Look ma – no hands. No hands, no feet."
Afterwards, he added: "Where this would change my life is to give me the independence and the flexibility to go to the places I both want to go and need to go when I need to do those things."
The vehicle comes with a heavy pricetag, with one key piece of equipment – a laser-range finder which maps out surroundings and responds to GPS signals – alone costing $70,000 (£44,000).
Google posted a video of Mr Mahan's journey on its Google+ account, saying it showed the possibilities self-driving cars offered to the blind and other people with disabilities.
The company added: "There's much left to design and test, but we've now safely completed more than 200,000 miles of computer-led driving, gathering great experiences and an overwhelming number of enthusiastic supporters."
Authorities around the world have already begun making plans to accommodate self-driving cars. Last month, the American state of Nevada became the first in the country to legalise self-driving vehicles.
The company added: "There's much left to design and test, but we've now safely completed more than 200,000 miles of computer-led driving, gathering great experiences and an overwhelming number of enthusiastic supporters."
Authorities around the world have already begun making plans to accommodate self-driving cars. Last month, the American state of Nevada became the first in the country to legalise self-driving vehicles.
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