It’s another busy week for the XR world. Major events like GITEX Global 2024 and AES 2024 showcase some of the latest workplace XR innovations, and enterprises worldwide are openly creating and deploying XR solutions across their workforces.
The XR market is slowly but surely integrating into significant corporations worldwide. As 2025 approaches, more businesses may get hands-on virtually with immersive solutions as positive outcomes rise.
Emirates Distributes VR Training to 23,000 Employees
Emirates Airlines utilized VR immersive learning to train its 23,000 cabin crew members in Safety and Emergency Procedures (SEP). Capt Bader Al Marzooqi, Emirates’ Senior Vice President of Flight Training, said the firm uses VR learning to prime “our crew for the airline’s next era of growth and expansion by integrating the latest innovations with our leadership, best practices, and excellence in training.”
Emirates is poised to train many professionals, with scalability taken into account. Last year, the airline embarked on its VR journey by developing MIRA, an immersive learning platform designed to upskill new and experienced employees.
The MIRA platform utilizes 3D virtual environments to offer self-guided, immersive training and simulations of the interiors of Airbus A380, Boeing 777, and Airbus A350. Emirates has fully modelled these spaces, including emergency slides, tarmacs, air bridges, and exteriors.
Additionally, MIRA supports multi-user training sessions, accommodating between 8 and 10 trainees simultaneously. This allows several headset-equipped trainees to participate in a single virtual training scenario as backup crew members, closely replicating a real cabin working environment.
While the MIRA platform is set to be implemented across the entire Emirates workforce, it initially focuses on two critical onboard safety operations: aircraft door operations and mid-flight fire-fighting. Emirates underscores that these high-risk situations necessitate annual recurrent Safety and Emergency Procedures (SEP) training. The company is leveraging VR as an affordable and repeatable solution to meet this essential requirement while also addressing the projected increase in employees by 2030, as noted by Al Marzooqi.
XPANCEO Showcases AR Smart Contact Lens
XPANCEO provided a glimpse into the future of XR wearables by showcasing a new set of AR smart contact lens prototypes at GITEX Global 2024. This follows their significant presence at technology shows worldwide in 2024.
The Dubai-based XR technology innovators are not focusing on creating products for immediate use; instead, they aim to establish a precedent for transparent, immersive hardware that allows users to interact with augmented interfaces without needing headsets or smart glasses.
Despite the excitement surrounding these innovations, the widespread adoption of smart glasses is still years away. Most augmented reality workflows and content are still primarily accessed through smartphones.
XPANCEO appears to be using 2024 to highlight the potential of its future-facing technology through a series of prototype showcases. This is timely, as interest in AR is growing, potentially outpacing VR headsets. This creates an excellent opportunity to advertise what AR wearables could look like, especially with Meta presenting Orion at Connect 2024.
At GITEX Global 2024, XPANCEO unveiled their ‘Smart Contact Lens for AR Vision,’ which reportedly displays high-quality AR images while consuming only a small amount of microwatts. Alongside the lenses, they introduced Data Reading, a framework that delivers real-time, interactive information to a device. This data can include device control inputs and biometric information.
According to XPANCEO, visitors at GITEX Global 2024 could interact with these prototypes and features without wearing them.
This news follows XPANCEO’s receiving the Best in Business Award for Healthcare and the Photonics Middle East Brilliance Award, recognising their prototype technology. The firm states that it will become fully functional by late 2026.
Taqtile, Hololight Showcase Flexible AR-Instructional Platform
This week, at the Augmented Enterprise Summit (AES) in Dallas, leading XR brands and industry leaders will showcase the latest innovations in augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) that are transforming workplaces now and in the future.
At the event, two experienced XR companies, Taqtile and Hololight, announced a collaboration to enhance immersive workflows for frontline workers. They are collaborating to improve Taqtile’s Manifest AR-ready work instructional platform by integrating Hololight’s RT3D data streaming framework.
This integration will enhance workers’ access to AR instructional tools, ensuring they can utilize these resources regardless of location or internet bandwidth.
John Tomizuka, CTO of Taqtile, noted that the Hololight streaming integration delivers “superior levels of scalability, performance, and control,” allowing businesses to deploy Manifest confidently in low-bandwidth environments.
Walmart Reveals AI, AR, and Immersive Commerce Platforms
Walmart has introduced its proprietary artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and immersive commerce platforms to enhance the shopping experience. The US-based multinational retailer believes these innovations will provide hyper-personalized, accessible, and engaging experiences for shoppers across its Walmart stores, Sam’s Clubs, apps, and more.
The new technologies include Wallaby, a series of large language models (LLMs) designed for retail, an AI-powered customer support assistant, a Content Decision Platform for customized shopping experiences, and an augmented reality platform, Retina, which creates 3D assets for “Adaptive Retail.”
Suresh Kumar, Walmart Inc.’s Global Chief Technology Officer and Chief Development Officer, said its technological innovations are created with customers’ needs in mind: “A standard search bar is no longer the fastest path to purchase; instead, we must use technology to adapt to customers’ individual preferences and needs.
