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". 

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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 or join us on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Threads and TikTok.