Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Automotive |
Founded | 2012 |
Headquarters | , Switzerland |
Area served | Switzerland |
Key people | Vitaly Ponomarev |
Products | Augmented_reality |
Number of employees | 250 [1] |
Website | http://wayray.com/ |
WayRay was a deep-tech company with offices in Switzerland, United States, China, Hong Kong, and Germany. It develops holographic AR technologies for connected cars. WayRay's in-house R&D center and prototyping facilities create holographic optical systems, complex mechanics, electronics, and software.
With effect of 14 August 2023, the Zurich probate court declared the bankruptcy of the WayRay AG, Switzerland. [2] The company's assets have been officially liquidated since this date. [3]
According to Vitaly Ponomarev, company's founder, the idea of a device that projects navigational information on the windshield of the car came to him after the accident into which he got when he was distracted by the GPS navigator. The concept was gradually supplemented by the Internet connection, mechanics of the social network and augmented reality. By December 2011, the idea became a project of a portable collimator to install on a car's front panel. Using a thin holographic film on the windshield instead of a mirror system made it possible to reduce the dimensions of the device. In the spring of 2012, the device was presented for the first time. [4]
In October 2013, WayRay took the prize at the Intel Global Challenge, UC Berkeley, California, and the following month got shortlisted as a finalist at Slush, a startup competition in Helsinki, Finland. [5] [6]
In 2015, L’Hebdo, a weekly French-language news magazine in Switzerland, listed Ponomarev among 100 outstanding innovators of Switzerland. [7] In November 2017, at the LA Auto Show, WayRay was selected as the grand prize winner of the 2017 Top Ten Automotive Startups Competition. [8] [9]
WayRay's achievements have been covered by various media: in 2013, Business Insider magazine listed WayRay among the 11 Hottest Startups in Northern Europe; in 2017, Wired magazine included WayRay in the Top 10 Startups Racing to Remake The Auto Industry. [10] [11] [12] Later in 2018, VentureBeat named the company one of “7 promising tech startups shaking up the auto industry.” [13]
Initial capital of WayRay was 300,000 USD of personal and borrowed funds of the founder, which was aimed at designing electronics and developing a chemical formula of the film, later ordered at DuPont.
In 2017, the Chinese internet giant Alibaba Group led an $18 million Series B round. [14] In September 2018, the company raised another $80 million in Series C round led by Porsche. [1] [15] [16] As of then, WayRay had a valuation of $500 million. [17]
The company is inventing and mastering the technology for creating an augmented reality experience for the automotive industry :
In November 2017 WayRay won the grand prize in the Top Ten Automotive Startups Competition at LA Auto Show. In addition to the prize money, the company was granted other perks from companies represented among panel judges. Those perks included access to Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure, a new Nvidia Drive PX 2 AI computer and access to Elektrobit's software network for automated driving and consulting services from Porsche Consulting. [21]
In January 2018, the CES-2018 company showed off its Navion navigation system for the first time. Also at CES, WayRay demonstrated its development platform True AR SDK, which is created to allow others to build augmented reality apps for automobiles. [20] In February 2018, the company has announced a new competition seeking developers for its True SDK Challenge, a competition to create AR applications for cars. [22]
In November 2021 WayRay launched its own Holograktor car to showcase the holographic technology, which would replace existing head-up displays. [23]
WayRay's business model includes both retail sales Navion Navigator and concluding OEM-contracts with automakers on the supply of AR-system. In December 2015, the company announced a partnership agreement with the French provider of telecommunications services, Orange Business Services, under which it will provide wireless connection and maintenance of WayRay products in the US. [24]
In January 2017, at the CES-2017 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the company announced a strategic partnership with the US automotive electronics manufacturer Harman International Industries and the planned introduction of WayRay technologies into Harman's solutions for automakers. The autonomous concept car Oasis of the Swiss company Rinspeed was presented at the exhibition. It is equipped with the infotainment system with augmented reality developed by WayRay. [25] [26] [27] [28] [29]
Banma Technologies, a joint venture between Alibaba Group and Chinese auto concern SAIC Motor, is a WayRay's partner which works with carmakers on its behalf. Pilot implementation of the system is planned in one of the production cars. [30]
At Startup Autobahn 2018, Europe's largest innovation platform initiated by Daimler AG and Plug and Play, WayRay announced its joint pilot project with the German automobile manufacturer Porsche and took home the People's Choice Award and the prize in the AR/VR category. [31] [32] [33] [34] The company also cooperates with a number of automakers on several future vehicles, which will be presented in 2019 and subsequent years. [20]
Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated 3D content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be defined as a system that incorporates three basic features: a combination of real and virtual worlds, real-time interaction, and accurate 3D registration of virtual and real objects. The overlaid sensory information can be constructive, or destructive. As such, it is one of the key technologies in the reality-virtuality continuum.
A head-up display, or heads-up display, also known as a HUD or head-up guidance system (HGS), is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view information with the head positioned "up" and looking forward, instead of angled down looking at lower instruments. A HUD also has the advantage that the pilot's eyes do not need to refocus to view the outside after looking at the optically nearer instruments.
The automotive industry in Chinese mainland has been the largest in the world measured by automobile unit production since 2008. As of 2024, China is also the world's largest automobile market both in terms of sales and ownership.
The Auto Expo is a biennial automotive show held in Greater Noida, NCR, India.
WebAR, previously known as the Augmented Web, is a web technology that allows for augmented reality functionality within a web browser. It is a combination of HTML, Web Audio, WebGL, and WebRTC. From 2020s more known as web-based Augmented Reality or WebAR, which is about the use of augmented reality elements in browsers.
An optical head-mounted display (OHMD) is a wearable device that has the capability of reflecting projected images as well as allowing the user to see through it. In some cases, this may qualify as augmented reality (AR) technology. OHMD technology has existed since 1997 in various forms, but despite a number of attempts from industry, has yet to have had major commercial success.
CarPlay, or Apple CarPlay is an Apple standard that enables a car radio or head unit to be a display and controller for an iOS device. It is available on iPhone 5 and later models running iOS 7.1 or later.
zSpace is a technology firm based in San Jose, California that combines elements of virtual and augmented reality in a computer. zSpace mostly provides AR/VR technology to the education market. It allows teachers and learners to interact with simulated objects in virtual environments.
Augment is an augmented reality SaaS platform that allows users to visualize their products in 3D in real environment and in real-time through tablets or smartphones. The software can be used for retail, e-commerce, architecture, and other purposes.
Skully was a brand of motorcycle helmet with a heads-up display and a rear-facing camera.
Smartglasses or smart glasses are eye or head-worn wearable computers that offer useful capabilities to the user. Many smartglasses include displays that add information alongside or to what the wearer sees. Alternatively, smartglasses are sometimes defined as glasses that are able to change their optical properties, such as smart sunglasses that are programmed to change tint by electronic means. Alternatively, smartglasses are sometimes defined as glasses that include headphone functionality.
Android Auto is a mobile app developed by Google to mirror features of an Android device, such as a smartphone, on a car's dashboard information and entertainment head unit.
Magic Leap, Inc. is an American technology company that released a head-mounted augmented reality display, called Magic Leap One, which superimposes 3D computer-generated imagery over real world objects. It is attempting to construct a light-field chip using silicon photonics.
Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) is a discontinued platform by Microsoft which provides augmented reality and virtual reality experiences with compatible head-mounted displays.
Leia Inc. is an American company producing 3D Lightfield products and software applications.
DAQRI was an American augmented reality company headquartered in Los Angeles, CA.
Gestigon is a software development company founded in September 2011, to develop software for gesture control and body tracking based on 3D depth data.
HUDWAY is a California-based company that provides head-up displays. The company was founded in 2013 by cousins Ivan Klabukov and Alex Ostanin.
Android Automotive is a variation of Google's Android operating system, tailored for its use in vehicle dashboards. Introduced in March 2017, the platform was developed by Google and Intel, together with car manufacturers such as Volvo and Audi. The project aims to provide an operating system codebase for vehicle manufacturers to develop their own version of the operating system. Besides infotainment tasks, such as messaging, navigation and music playback, the operating system aims to handle vehicle-specific functions such as controlling the air conditioning.
Gyon is a Chinese automobile manufacturer headquartered in Chengdu, China, that specializes in producing electric vehicles.