Avegant works on next generation of night-vision gear

Avegant believe it is building a better night-vision goggle, which the downtown Ann Arbor start-up hopes to begin selling next year.

The 1-year-old firm got its start when it co-founders were approached by military contractors while working in a government lab. The need was for a better night-vision equipment for military drivers during wartime. Soldiers were experiencing better results using thermal night vision while driving. The problem was the display was in their vehicle’s dash instead of over their eyes.

"It's fairly difficult to drive a car like that, staring down at a monitor in the center dash while driving through a combat zone," says Edward Tang, CEO of Avegant.

So Avegant has created a head-mounted virtual retina display, so it can give its users the same sort of freedom of movement when using it. The company and its team of half a dozen people are currently “heavily engaged in product development” while working on prototypes, according to Tang. Tang hopes to begin making sales of the technology on the consumer market in early 2014.

"It's a pretty interesting technology and a pretty interesting idea," Tang says.

Source: Edward Tang, CEO of Avegant
Writer: Jon Zemke

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