Distance Technologies has developed a product it says can turn any transparent surface into an augmented reality display.
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Distance Technologies, a Finnish startup aiming to bring mixed reality technology to any car windshield or airplane cockpit, has raised €10 million ($11.1 million) in funding from GV. letter and other investors.
Distance increased its cash infusion in a seed round led by GV, and existing investors FOV Ventures and Maki.vc also injected more cash into the startup, the company told CNBC on Thursday.
The technology developed by Helsinki-based Distance is said to turn any transparent surface into an augmented reality display, allowing users to see 3D digital objects overlaid on top of the panel they are viewing.
This avoids the need for any bulky hardware, such as mixed reality headsets or augmented reality glasses, both of which require users to pull the actual device up to their eyes to immerse themselves in the experience.
“One of the biggest obstacles to mixed reality is that as soon as you need to put something on your head, it’s never going to be an easy or elegant solution,” Distance CEO and co-founder Urho Konttori told CNBC. Konttori was another Chief Technology Officer at Varjo, a Helsinki mixed reality company.
Distance focuses primarily on sales to the automotive, aerospace and defense markets.
Konttori says distance works by using tracking technology to identify where you’re looking and then calculating the correct light field to match the exact position of your eyes.
Distance’s solution adds a set of optical layers on top of most liquid crystal displays (LCDs), which allows its technology to project images where the eye focuses.
Using this technology, the distance separates the light field into your left and right eyes while creating an additional optical layer underneath, resulting in high brightness.
Distance says its system is capable of “infinite” pixel depth, meaning it can create a life-size field of view in any environment – whether driving a car or piloting an F-18 fighter jet.
GV, formerly Google Ventures, Considers Alphabet, the online search giant’s holding company, its sole limited partnertold CNBC it was attracted to invest in Distance due to its “potential to build the next generation of user interfaces.”
“We’re particularly excited about some of the recent avenues to bring this technology to the automotive and aerospace markets, giving users the opportunity to gain access to this technology,” Roni Hiranand, head of GV, told CNBC.
Commercializing mixed reality is not an easy task. For one, mixed reality equipment is still expensive. Apple’s Vision Pro and Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 devices all start at $3,500, and are expensive to make. A new AR glasses concept device Yuan Each unit launched Wednesday reportedly cost the company $10,000 edge.
Meta was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
Augmented reality heads-up displays (HUDs) are not a new phenomenon in the automotive industry. Companies have been working on adding augmented reality features to cars for years, with tech giant Huawei being one of the first to pioneer the technology in China.
Many other display technology companies are developing their own automotive AR HUDs, including First International Computer, Spectralics, Envisics, Futurus, CY Vision, Raythink, Denso, Bosch, Continental and Panasonic.
Distance Technologies chief marketing officer Jussi Mäkinen said the company’s system can cover the entire surface of any transparent surface, not just specific corners or the lower half of the display – a limitation faced by most automotive AR HUDs today.
“The main difference here is that we are software-driven,” Mäkinen told CNBC.
The company previously demonstrated a proof-of-concept version of its technology at the Augmented World Expo 2024 US mixed reality industry trade show in June.
Currently, Distance has to use simple optics and ordinary LCD displays to demonstrate its technology to potential partners and investors. Going forward, Konttori said he’s ready to push a “very expensive” button: advancing Distance’s optical technology into what he calls the next generation early next year.
“I would say we are now in a research cycle,” said Distance’s CEO. “Now, we’re entering the product cycle. The key thing to do is to work with the people who are going to be your customers…work closely with one or two people and then develop the final product specifications.”
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