Of course you can't drive them anywhere yet, it's called a "prototype"  
for a reason. One has to start somewhere, and this would be the  
beginning of the project. I'm not sure why you would expect a blind  
drivable car to spring, like Athena from Zeus's, head, fully formed  
and usable right now anyway, and, moreover, why the NFB has to be "off  
its rocker" because it's actually gotten a team of university  
researchers to tackle a problem and develop a working prototype.  
Progress has to begin somewhere, and no large development just  
happens. If you would like to not encourage such progress, or not  
encourage anyone to make an attempt at doing anything progressive,  
that's fine, and I reckon you're entitled. I, for one, find the  
prospect very exciting and am watching these developments with much  
interest.