A pair of young French engineering students are working to tackle the problem of navigating big cities by developing a augmented reality (AR) navigation app that identifies the most practical route for them and uses spatial sound, also known as 3D sound to guide them in the right direction.
“We’re trying to make something very simple where you get the 3D sound from the correct direction. You turn in the direction that the sound is coming from, and then you’re good to go,” SonarVision Co-Founder and CEO Nathan Daix told Euronews Next.
How does this app differentiate from competing apps?
There are already apps out there that alert the user of surrounding points of interest, such as BlindSquare and Soundscape.
SonarVision uses the phone’s camera to scan buildings using AR technology and compares them to Apple’s database of scanned buildings for a given city.
This allows users to precisely geo-track with anywhere from 20 centimetres to one-metre precision and to keep the user on crossings and pavements while avoiding, where possible, stairs and construction areas.
Is this app a replacement for a white cane?
The app does not do any real-time obstacle detection and is only designed to be a “complement” to a white cane, a guide dog, or other devices that people with a visual impairment use to get around.
What tech could possibly replace the white cane?
LiDAR technology, or light detection and ranging, has the potential to help people who are visually impaired.
It allows users to detect obstacles, but not just obstacles on the floor, obstacles that are at head level, at body level by scanning depth in the environment.
Are there plans for SonarVision to use LiDAR technology?
They’ve actually started working with LiDAR on an iPhone 12 Pro and have been able to develop a prototype that basically replaces the white cane.
The main reason SonarVision is not focusing on using LiDAR just yet, Daix said, is that the smartphones that feature it (like the iPhone 12 Pro) are expensive and SonarVision aims to make its tech as accessible as possible.
When will the app be available?
The app is currently under development and testing, but the young start-up aims to make it available in 2023. The prototype works in Paris but can be deployed to other big European capitals.
The project has just been selected by his engineering school’s start-up incubator, 21st by CentraleSupelec, which will provide help with testing, funding, entrepreneurial coaching and support from its vast network of researchers and alumni.
SonarVision will also have a spot at Station F, the world’s largest campus for start-ups, located in Paris.
