The guide accessory that was missing for cyclists, scooter users, non-wheelers and pedestrians may have arrived! Her name : Cosmovision. Developed by the French firm Cosmo Connected, which already knows a lot about safety on two wheels, these connected glasses offer a head-up display system to guide us in our movements. Attacking the bitumen, 20 minutes tested them.
Head-up display
Anyone who has ever tested GPS guidance by smartphone by riveting their terminal to the handlebars of their bike or scooter has often scared their stomachs. Fear of falling and breaking, fear of theft, but also fear of accidents when looking at your screen to find your way. Cosmo Vision smart glasses take the hassle out of it.
Connected to an app, these lightweight binoculars (40 grams) with a sporty look incorporate a head-up display system, like some car windshields do. The idea here is to display in real time the essential information to their user to guide him serenely from point “A” to point “B”.
Software bugs
Their test is (almost) conclusive. Simple to implement (just recharge them so that they are ready for 12 hours of use, then pair them), Cosmo Vision glasses can be used on two wheels, but also on foot. You simply have to enter the address of the place where you want to go, validate your choice and then let yourself be guided.
Small problem: it is essential to enter the exact address of the place where you want to go. Although geolocated by our smartphone, it is impossible by indicating “Town Hall”, to see the nearest town hall immediately offered by the application. Instead, improbable addresses in departments 27, 91 or 76 are offered to us… even though we are in 95! On the other hand, by indicating the number, the street and the desired municipality, the application runs without problem.
“There are software bugs that we are correcting, we do not worry”, reassures Armin Batouméni, the CTO (technical manager) of Cosmo Connected, when we precisely questioned him on this subject. Too bad these bugs weren’t fixed before the product was released…
Discreet display
The display of information relating to our journey is made at the top, on the left, inside the right glass of the glasses. It is small (a few square millimeters), but sufficiently readable. Despite presbyopia problems, this display with letters, numbers and symbols (arrows, round bridges, etc.) gave us no reading problems. Advantage: it is absolutely non-invasive and does not obstruct the view. By being deported in a corner of the glass, it supposes a simple glance as soon as necessary. This is a good point for safety.
Directions to take, distance before changing direction to the nearest meter, street name, but also percentage of remaining battery life are permanently indicated. And by passing your hand in front of the left glass which incorporates a motion detector, it is possible to access other data, such as the time separating us from our destination, our speeds and distance travelled. This gesture works in about 80% of cases. Several times, we had to renew it for it to be validated.
A V1 to improve
The principle of the Cosmo Vision that we tested by bike and on foot is very attractive, and one can imagine that more and more users of soft mobility solutions may be interested in such a product. But this “V1” still has to prove itself, in particular through its GPS requests, so that the user experience is perfect. Dedicated to city dwellers, “bike riders”, but also to road cyclists and mountain bikers, this solution full of promise also allows data to be recorded and shared
Among the use cases, one could also imagine tourist partnerships with pre-recorded circuits. Eventually, we finally dream that these glasses will become compatible with personal assistants in order to be able to determine a destination by voice (which would avoid having to manipulate your smartphone), or that the reading of SMS from certain important contacts may be allowed .
Sold for 489 euros, the Cosmo Vision remain too expensive for simple daily trips (and for most users), but can already interest large riders. “Their price reduction is an objective, and thanks to the sales volumes of the product, we will be able to activate a certain number of industrial levers for this purpose”, assures Armin Batouméni. According to our information, Cosmo Connected also plans to change the customization of the screen, with new icons and information.