Milton Keynes mobility business wins social impact award

A business based in Milton Keynes, BriteWay-XR, which uses a mixture of Augmented Reality and VR to provide navigation assistance, has been awarded an Innovation Pitch award at Healthy Ageing 2023 for the pitch that demonstrated the most transformative social impact.

The conference was run by UKRI’s Healthy Ageing Challenge which has funded projects across the UK to enable businesses to develop and deliver services and products which support people as they age. The Challenge aims to address inequalities in ageing by supporting the creation of products and services that can scale to reach everyone who needs them.

BriteWay-XR allows older people and those with reduced mobility, to plan their journeys more effectively, and travel independently with confidence.

BriteWay-XR provides individuals with the assurance of real-time support from staff or family and friends. Real-time accessibility information and intelligent routing is used to reassure and route people in a way that avoids overcrowding and provides guidance through complex interchanges.

Founder and CEO, Fredi Nonyely, said: “The idea for BriteWay came when my mum, aged 76 and suffering from arthritis, needed to travel to Heathrow Airport. When I saw the incredible anxiety, she felt at the thought of travelling alone by train, we simply had to drive. I thought there must be a solution for older people to travel independently, safely, and with greater confidence. When I found there was nothing available, I brought our team together to build it. The result is BriteWay. An XReality indoor way-finder app that helps everyone, most especially the elderly, disabled, or impaired, to navigate complex venues like train stations.

Featuring visual wayfinding with Augmented Reality, voice navigation with a soothing AVATAR assistant, and a pre-recorded Virtual Reality map with 3D/2D views, it helps users familiarise themselves before arrival, and navigate the route to points of interest seamlessly, safely, and with greater confidence.

AI powered dynamic routing capability guides users intelligently around over-crowded places and obstacles in real-time, with the ability to connect instantly to real-time remote support if needed in an emergency. And with timely information allowing elderly and disabled passengers to rehearse a journey from home, be guided through complex interchanges, and connect with real-time support.

What makes BriteWay special is the ability to locate the passenger accurately within stations. Along with the breadth of our station insights, such as levels of crowding within station zones. The Briteway app is free for end users and licensed to train operators.”

Fredi also discussed that he wanted Briteyellow to build innovative products which support people like his mother as they age. He said: “To help people remain active, productive, independent, and socially connected across generations for as long as possible was the goal. Without the support of UKRI’s Healthy Ageing Challenge, I wouldn’t have been able to build the contacts I now have to take my business to the next level, and help our society age well”.