Distance Technologies is developing a product that it says can turn any transparent surface into an augmented reality display.
Remote technologies
Distance Technologies, a Finnish startup that aims to bring mixed-reality technology to any car windshield or airplane cockpit, has raised 10 million euros ($11.1 million) in funding from GV, the venture capital arm of Alphabet and other investors.
Distance increased its cash injection in a seed round led by GV, with existing investors FOV Ventures and Maki.vc also raising more money for the startup, the company told CNBC on Thursday.
Helsinki-based Distance is developing technology that it says can turn any transparent surface into an augmented reality display, allowing the user to see digital 3D objects overlaid on the panel they are viewing.
This avoids the need for clunky hardware, such as a mixed reality headset or augmented reality glasses, both of which require a user to pull a real device over their eyes to immerse themselves in the experience.
“One of the big barriers to mixed reality is that as long as you have to put something on your head, it will never be an effortless or elegant solution,” Urho Konttori, CEO and co-founder of Distance, told CNBC. in an interview earlier this week. Konttori was previously Chief Technology Officer of Varjo, another Helsinki-based mixed reality company.
Distance is primarily focused on sales to the automotive, aerospace and defense markets.
The way Distance works is by using tracking technology to identify where you are looking and then calculate the correct field of light to match the exact positions of your eyes, Konttori said.
Distance’s solution adds a series of optical layers on top of most liquid crystal displays (LCDs), allowing the technology to broadcast an image to where your eyes focus.
Using this technique, Distance can separate the light fields in your left and right eyes, while also creating an extra optical layer underneath that provides high brightness.
Distance says the system is capable of ‘infinite’ pixel depth, meaning it can create a life-size field of view in any environment – whether behind the wheel of a car or in an F-18 fighter jet.
GV, formerly known as Google Ventures and considers the internet search giant’s holding company Alphabet as its sole limited partnertold CNBC that it was attracted to investing in Distance because of its “potential to build the next generation of user interfaces.”
“We’re particularly excited about how some of the near-term paths to bringing this to market in the automotive and aerospace sectors enable the potential for users to get their hands on this technology,” Roni Hiranand, director at GV, told CNBC.
Commercializing mixed reality is not an easy task. First, mixed reality devices are still expensive. Apple Vision Pro and Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 devices both start at $3,500, and they’re not cheap to make either. A new AR glasses concept device Meta Unveiled Wednesday, it reportedly cost the company $10,000 per unit to make The edge.
Meta was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
Augmented reality heads-up displays, or HUDs, are not a new phenomenon in the automotive industry. Companies have been working on adding AR features to cars for a number of years, with tech giant Huawei being one of the pioneers to pioneer the technology in China.
A slew of other display technology companies are developing their own AR HUDs for cars, including First International Computer, Spectralics, Envisics, Futurus, CY Vision, Raythink, Denso, Bosch, Continental and Panasonic.
According to Jussi Mäkinen, Chief Marketing Officer of Distance Technologies, the company’s system can cover the entire area of any transparent surface, and not just a specific corner or the bottom half of a screen – a limitation that most automotive AR HUDs face today have to do with.
“The main difference here is that we are controlled by the software,” Mäkinen told CNBC.
The company previously presented a proof-of-concept version of its technology at the Augmented World Expo USA 2024 mixed-reality industry trade show in June.
For now, Distance has had to use simple optics and regular LCD screens to demonstrate its technology to potential partners and investors. Looking ahead, Konttori said he’s getting ready to push a “very expensive” button: pushing Distance’s optical technology into what he calls the next generation early next year.
“I would say we are in the research cycle now,” the Distance CEO said. “Now we’re moving into the product cycle. And the most important thing we need to do is work with someone who will be your customer… one or two to work very closely with, and then a final product specification.”