I’ve recorded nearly every day of my life for the past four years with Meta’s smart glasses, starting with the Ray-Ban Stories back in 2021 and subsequently switching to the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses in 2023. So, you can imagine my enthusiasm for getting the chance to try out the Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses.
One of the biggest reasons I’m a proponent of smart glasses like the Meta Ray-Ban Display is their potential to become that navigator to get me driving directions with assistance from visual aids. In fact, I thought it could replace the pricey head-up displays I find in many of the best electric cars I test. After trying the new glasses on and getting a sneak peak at the Maps app, I don’t think they’re going to be ideal for driving. Here’s why.
If there’s one piece of car tech I find valuable with driving, it’s none other than a head-up display. They’re helpful in the sense that they lessen my distraction from having to constantly look down to check my driving directions, seeing that the information is often projected onto the windshield through the head-up display.
However, the problem with head-up displays in cars is that they often tack on hefty additional costs. Given how vehicle prices are constantly increasing, it may dissuade car shoppers from choosing to include this optional feature. That’s why I thought the Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses would seem like the perfect solution.
But it has one fatal flaw: its focus level. From my quick hands-on time with the Meta Ray-Ban Display, the display appears to be half an arm’s length in front of you. Now the problem with this while you’re driving is that it’s going to cause your focus to shift from looking far away at the road in front of you, to something much closer in order to see these directions properly. This isn’t practical, especially if you’re older like me and have trouble shifting your focus from far to near.
This is also the same issue that arises whenever I try switching over to using a car’s digital rear view mirror, where the mirror itself is a display that shows what’s behind me while I’m driving. With a standard rear view mirror, my focus doesn’t have to shift because my eyes are already attuned to see something at a distance. In contrast, a digital rear view mirror requires my focus to shift.
Due to this fixed focus, I don’t think the Meta Ray-Ban Display will be replacing head-up displays in cars anytime soon. I’ve also seen how some EVs blend augmented reality into their head-up displays, which luxury vehicles like Mercedes-Benz EQS 450 Sedan and Cadillac Vistiq, overlays the display with dynamic arrows that increasingly get larger in size as I approach my turn.
While I don’t think the Meta Ray-Ban Display would replace my existing Meta Ray-Bans for driving, especially when it fetches for $800 and the lenses aren’t polarized, they do have other practical applications that I’m eager to check out.
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