[SC-CSTD] Be My Eyes and Meta Announce Accessibility Partnership: Be My Eyes to provide “Call a Volunteer” on Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, unlocking hands-free accessibility for blind and low vision people for the first time

[Steve Cook]

Looking forward to this with my Ray Bans!

 

Original Source
<https://www.bemyeyes.com/blog/be-my-eyes-meta-accessibility-partnership> 

 

Be My Eyes and Meta Announce Accessibility Partnership


Be My Eyes and Meta Announce Accessibility Partnership


Be My Eyes to provide “Call a Volunteer” on Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses,
unlocking hands-free accessibility for blind and low vision people for the
first time



San Francisco, September. 25, 2024 - Be My Eyes, the company that connects
people who are blind or have low vision with sighted volunteers and
companies, through live video and AI, is thrilled to announce a
groundbreaking partnership with Meta to provide its award-winning technology
on Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which blend cutting edge technology with
iconic design. 

In a market first, the Ray-Ban Meta and Be My Eyes partnership will allow
the user to initiate Be My Eyes’ “Call a Volunteer” experience entirely by
voice command. Saying “Hey Meta, Call a Volunteer on Be My Eyes” will
connect users to a sighted volunteer, who speaks the user’s language, via a
one-way video, two-way audio call. Through this integration, the volunteer
will see through the lens of the smart glasses in order to provide a
real-time description to the user through their open-ear speakers, for
everyday tasks such as setting a thermostat, finding the right supermarket
aisle, or preparing meals—all while keeping the user's hands free. The Be My
Eyes service is completely free for the end user, and already available any
time of the day or night.

The “Call a Volunteer” feature on Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses is the first
product offering of a wider, combined development partnership between Be My
Eyes and Meta, and will be available soon, initially for users in the US,
Canada, UK, Ireland, and Australia.

The combined development work will deliver new levels of accessibility for
people who are blind or have low vision, and for the first time, will
provide hands-free access to Be My Eyes technology and their global network
of 7.7 million volunteers. The development partnership is focused around
platform-native integration and ease-of-use, with direct input and
unprecedented testing from the blind and low-vision community. 

For example, the “Call a Volunteer” integration will allow for easy toggling
between glasses and smartphone camera, and back again, providing the user
with the flexibility of switching between the world view and the selfie
view. This level of functionality is only possible through close development
co-operation between the two companies.

The integration of the Be My Eyes platform with Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses
is also being designed with simplicity and elegance from the outset, and
with a suite of hands-free capabilities, which will provide an
unprecedented, powerful description tool for blind people at work, school or
home. 

“The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses hands-free form factor makes them uniquely
versatile to serve everyone, including the blind and low vision community,”
said Freddy Abnousi, VP of Health Technology at Meta. “The Call a Volunteer
feature is the first product offering of combined development between Meta
and Be My Eyes and we look forward to seeing how it evolves with direct
input from this community.”

"Our collaboration with Meta launches an experience that addresses something
that our community of blind and low-vision users has been requesting for a
long time, namely hands-free access to our services." said Mike Buckley, CEO
of Be My Eyes. "The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have enabled that, and with
our integration we have now opened a gateway to unprecedented levels of
accessibility, unlocking new opportunities for those navigating their daily
lives. And this is just the beginning."

"At Meta, our approach to inclusive innovation is a guiding principle that
shapes how we build and design our products. We're working to build
technologies that are truly reflective of the diversity of our nearly 4
billion global users, and our partnership with Be My Eyes is a significant
step towards making the world more inclusive and accessible for people who
are blind or have  low vision,” said Maxine Williams. Chief Diversity
Officer at Meta. “We're excited about the potential of this collaboration
and look forward to continuing our work in making accessibility a core part
of our product development."

Potential use cases for the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses with Be My Eyes are
vast. From assisting with grocery shopping, locating a dropped item, reading
important documents, or simply getting a visual description of a complex
environment such as a busy airport. Whatever the situation, the glasses
combined with Be My Eyes services provide an essential tool that now brings
new levels of hands-free accessibility to everyday life. 

“As an avid user of Be My Eyes since its launch in 2015, I was excited to
test out the integration with Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses,” said Chancey
Fleet, a tech educator and advocate who is blind. “It's the same core
connection between a blind or low-vision user and a sighted volunteer, but,
now that it's hands-free, I can focus on the conversation and what’s
happening around me, without the distraction of holding and pointing a phone
camera. Last week, for example, I used the integration to find my way
through a busy airport, from curbside through security to my gate. Sharing
my view from the glasses with a volunteer freed my hands up to manage my
bags, react to my guide dog’s cues, and use my phone to show my boarding
pass. This partnership gives Be My Eyes users a powerful new way to actively
explore the world". 

END

‍

About Be My Eyes

Launched in 2015, Be My Eyes is a globally recognized and award-winning
access technology provider for people who are blind or have low vision. With
a global community of 700,000 users, and 7.7 million volunteers, Be My Eyes
connects blind and low-vision users with sighted volunteers and companies,
through live video and AI to tackle inaccessible parts of everyday life,
whether at home or at work; all for free to the end user.

Be My Eyes is available in more than 150 countries worldwide and its
volunteers speak more than 180 languages. 

To learn more, please visit bemyeyes.com <http://bemyeyes.com/>  or join us
on LinkedIn
<https://www.linkedin.com/company/be-my-eyes/?originalSubdomain=dk> , X
<https://twitter.com/BeMyEyes?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%
5Eauthor> , Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/bemyeyesapp/> ,
<https://www.instagram.com/bemyeyesapp/?hl=en>  Instagram, Mastodon
<https://mastodon.social/@bemyeyes> , Threads
<https://www.threads.net/@bemyeyesapp>  and TikTok
<https://www.tiktok.com/@bemyeyesapp?lang=en> .

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