Finnish startup Distance Technologies emerged from stealth last year with a technology it claims can turn any transparent surface into a mixed reality (MR) display. Now, it has teamed up with Patria to trial the tech on the defence firm’s armoured vehicles.
The partners will jointly develop a heads-up display for Patria’s six-wheel drive armoured personnel carrier. The system will display 3D tactical data, terrain mapping, and AI-driven military insights directly onto the windshield, allowing military personnel to see in low-visibility environments like darkness and smoke.
The MR technology promises to eliminate the need for additional screens or clunky headsets. The display also remains covert, preventing light leakage that could reveal vehicle positions, Distance said.
Urho Konttori, the startup’s CEO and co-founder, claims it will give drivers “super sensing abilities.”
“Creating XR heads-up displays that visualise mission-critical information on the windshield offers unprecedented speed, confidence, and decision-making ability on the battlefields of the future,” said Konttori, the former CTO of Varjo, another Helsinki-based XR startup.
Unlike standard heads-up displays in cars, which project static or pre-determined information onto the windshield, Distance’s technology tracks the user’s eye movements and then displays the correct light field to match where they are looking.
The “brain” behind the system is so-called contextual AI, a type of artificial intelligence that understands and reacts based on its situation.
Distance can add its light field optics on top of most LCDs. When users look through the screen, they see a computer-generated 3D light field mixed in with the real world. This means virtually any transparent surface can transform into an MR window — whether that’s the windshield of a car, an F-18 fighter jet, or a 6×6 armoured vehicle.
Distance claims the system is capable of “infinite” pixel depth, which means it should be indistinguishable from natural sight. Konttori no doubt drew inspiration from his work at Varjo, which in 2023 unveiled the world’s first retina-resolution XR headset.
The MR model for Distance
Konttori left Varjo early last year. “I’ve started increasingly feeling that it’s time for me to move on,” he said in a LinkedIn post at the time. “I’m leaving Varjo and starting something new. Not anything Varjo does… but pretty mind-blowing.”
Distance is that new venture. The company indeed takes a very different approach from his former employer While Varjo develops headsets with lenses, Distance offers glasses-free XR tech to the automotive, aerospace, and defence markets.
In July last year, the startup emerged from stealth with a $2.7mn pre-seed investment. Three months later, it raised $11.1mn in a round led by Google Ventures. Now the company is looking to test its tech in the real world.
Distance’s collaboration with Patria is part of the defence firm’s government-funded eALLIANCE program, which seeks to support Finnish civil and defence tech companies.
The partnership comes as Europe rushes to increase defence spending amid cooling relations with the US. Just yesterday, Germany voted to create a massive €500bn ($545bn) fund for defence and infrastructure.
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