The smartglasses market is growing by leaps and bounds. We’ve covered some smart eyewear here that offers some pretty neat options, but as technology improves, smart gear can do just as much while disguising the fact that you’re wearing a $500 piece of tech. The newly launched wearable tech company Everysight’s Raptor smartglasses for cycling are a perfect example of the streamlining that happens as market competition grows.
The picture above seem to just show a regular weekend warrior, right? If this article wasn’t about smartglasses, you wouldn’t know he was wearing them. These traditional-looking glasses hide Everysight Beam tech in the top bar that projects a transparent display right in your line of sight. The lens itself serves as the augmented display, so the profile has no little nubbins or protrusions that stand out or that could get damaged. The line-of-sight display also means no peripheral distractions, allowing you to keep your eyes on the road.
Because Everysight is a spinoff of Elbit, a defense technology company and market leader in helmet-mounted display systems for pilots, this functionality was well within the company’s reach. The firm’s 30-plus years of experience with augmented reality and safe data integration may have given them a leg up on design here. Everysight took a careful look at the way info is relayed in most smartglasses displays and knew they could do it in a way that’s safer, and even better looking.
The video shows quite a nice stat selection for both road cycling and mountain biking. Live route guidance, grade of incline, wattage, waypoints and distance between them on top of the expected speed, time, and overall distance were all interesting metrics for the firm to demonstrate. The Raptors are set for release in 2016, and Everysight says they’ll host a program for developers to increase the glasses’ capabilities.
The CEO of Everysight, Asaf Ashkenazi said in a company release that this is just the beginning. “Raptor is the first step in our greater plan to create a full line of smartglasses.” Something to look forward to for those who aren’t into biking.
The Raptor joins several other pairs of cycling smartglasses either on or headed to market. The Recon Jet glasses were released a few years ago, and the Insenth IN1s and the Kopin Solos are shipping next month and next year, respectively. Recon, Insenth, and Kopin’s cycling products all have something in common, though — the protruding projector. Even if the display itself doesn’t take your eyes off the road, not everyone wants to look like they’ve been cybernetically enhanced. Everysight seems to be the first company to acknowledge and account for that.
