“Bring AR to the slopes with the world’s first augmented reality ski googles.
Interact, navigate, play.”
RideOnVision
We are all familiar with the hassle of reaching out for our phone whilst being on the slopes. Whether it’s to call a friend, change a song, take a picture of the beautiful scenery, or even to check the time, the thought of removing your gloves to embrace the frozen air is chilling. But imagine being able to do all this without using your hands at all?
RideOn Ski Goggles offers the world’s first AR ski experience, fusing the augmented reality experience with snow googles. One of its biggest perks is the fact that it’s operating system is based on Android 4.4 with virtual maps, thus preventing yourself from getting lost again. Its integrated camera enables up to 3 hours of HD video recording, while communication functions allows you to locate, message, and even (video) call hands-free. Instead of disconnecting you from physical reality, like virtual reality (VR) goggles, AR adds another layer to the physical world, enhancing the entire experience.
Watch a quick video of the goggle’s in action – here –
RideOn started in 2014 and a year later overachieved their crowdfunding goal via Indiegogo (151% of $75,000). For now, these goggles are RideOn’s flagship product, and have already been shipped to hundreds of early adopters around the world. The startup hopes to soon bring AR experience to motorcycling, sailing (seen below), aviation, and other outdoor activities, thus disrupting the sport industry.
While the integration between AR and sports may sound fun, some would think that it would lead to more accidents due to all the distractions. However, RideOn was built with safety in mind for both the rider and skiers/boarders around you. The goggles automatically detect motion and switches to an extremely minimal riding mode to avoid any sort of distraction. All the messages and calls will be delivered and seen only when you are fully still.
Moreover, settings such as playing mini games and tracing your friends while riding down will actually add minimal information embedded on the snow. Within a few minutes, the brain adjusts and the information available resides to reality. Therefore, the AR visuals will not obstruct your ride nor display any serious distractions. The goggles were designed to enhance the downhill experience, not diminish it
However, there is still a small drawback. With the release date approaching this month, the pre-order price on their website hits $629, with the retail price being $899. On top of the RideOn AR Ski Goggles, the buyer will receive access to piste maps and points of interests of all major ski resorts around the world. Even though the experience may definitely appear unique and exciting, for now it is still quite costly.
Would you introduce AR into your outdoor activities? Personally, I think this technology integration was inevitable and will only grow from here. Despite the high price, I would definitely ride with a pair of RideOn goggle’s.
Related Articles:
- https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rideon-the-first-true-ar-goggles-for-snow-sports#/
- http://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/08/22/rideon-ski-goggles-augmented-reality/
- https://www.rideonvision.com/new/
- https://www.rideonvision.com/new/rideon-lifestyle.php#our-story
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwzrDIF2U2o
The article is very well written.
Personally, I wouldn’t buy these. Technology, in the form of AR, is already trying to take over in numerous areas in human life, disrupting industries and making people more addicted to technology.
Going into the specifics of the purpose of RideOn, I personally stop to check my phone only when taking off my snowbord at a safe house where is hot. I have my playlist set for the whole ride, and track my parcour with SkiTracks. I presume these goggles have a battery endurance, and technology dies out quite fast at high altitudes. My phone would turn off at 75% battery if I tried to take it out of my safe pocket at 2000m altitude. I think, the battery would be the major drawback, instead of the costs. Initial costs for newly fabricated tech served for early adopters is usually high in price, till the products become more demanded!
Nonetheless, a great innovation and a good article!
Thank you for the interesting post, I enjoyed reading it!
Personally I would love to have one of these RideOn, AR goggles for my next ski trip. I think it would be great for filming, adjusting your music, track your speed and the possibility to call friends seems to be a big advantage. I like the fact that it takes safety in consideration since I think it will be especially useful in the ski-lift and while waiting for the others, and not that much during the skiing itself. It would definitely elevate my ski experience.
But I do agree with you on the price, the retail price seems a bit too high for me especially since I would only be able to use it one or two weeks a year. And I guess that in a few years there will be even more advanced techniques in AR so I would have to switch again. So for the few weeks in total for which I can use it, it is not worth the costs. But if I were a fulltime ski instructor I would absolutely buy this RideOn.
Nevertheless, I think that it is a great step for the future way of skiing or snowboarding. Augmented reality is becoming more common in sports like this article illustrates, so why not in winter sports as well!
http://www.augment.com/blog/sports-pave-way-augmented-reality/
Hey Gabriel, first of all thanks for the post !
Even though riding with a pair of RideOn Goggles sounds like a very fun experience, I had to say that I am still skeptical about it. First of all, as an experienced Ski rider, I believe that introducing this kind of technology would make the skiing experience less natural and less fun. I believe that people who are skiing are often trying to take a break from their everyday routines and are not looking to be connected to the whole world while they are going down the slopes. On another level, even if the pair of goggles has been constructed with safety as one of the principles, I still strongly believe that anyone who would have a phone conversation or even worst, a video conversation while skiing would obviously take his focus out of the ride and would increase the chances of an incident to happen. This is well known for people driving their cars while being on their phone, so why would it be different for skiing ?
Besides those draw backs, major benefits such as the integrated localisation tool and the camera which enables you to video tape your rides are reasons which would push me to get a pair of those RideOn Goggles if the price gets someday cheaper !