AT&T and Aira have extended their agreement as Aira made AT&T its global data provider to take the service to Australia, Canada and the U.K. This comes at a meaningful time, say the companies. Today marks the 7th Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD).
The purpose of GAAD is to get everyone talking, thinking, and learning about digital access and inclusion for people with disabilities. What better way to do that than with technology that empowers blind and low vision individuals?
“We chose GAAD to make this announcement because bringing accessibility to everyone forms the very core of Aira’s mission,” said Suman Kanuganti, CEO of Aira. “Working with AT&T to make our service available around the globe is the next step in using this technology to improve daily lives.”
The World Health Organisation estimates 253 million people live with impaired vision. For over a year, AT&T and Aira have worked together in the U.S. to help many of the blind and those with low vision complete daily tasks more easily.
Connected Aira glasses have also assisted with new challenges like starting college, running the Boston Marathon, and even experiencing the solar eclipse. Now, people around the world who are blind or have low vision can use smart glasses to access public transportation, navigate busy streets, shop in stores or recognise people, without another person to physically accompany them. It opens up a world of possibilities.
The AT&T global network connects Aira’s smart glasses, worn by blind and low vision users known as “Explorers,” to trained, professional agents. Agents use a built-for-purpose dashboard that provides details such as the Explorer’s location and profile, in combination with a secure, near real-time stream of video. At just the tap of a button, this information is provided to Explorers so they can perform almost any task.
“The combination of Aira’s groundbreaking assistive technology and our highly secure global wireless connectivity helps the user ‘see’ the world around them,” said Chris Penrose, president of IoT, AT&T. “That world just got bigger. This global expansion can bring the Aira platform to millions of individuals who can benefit from this service.”
Aira worked with the AT&T Foundry for Connected Health to improve the delivery of its groundbreaking platform.
Aira will begin to market its service in Australia and Canada this month and in the U.K. later this year. Learn more about the Aira service and how to subscribe at the AT&T Marketplace.
For more information about how AT&T is using IoT for Good, click here.
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