At CES 2025, WeWalk unveiled a new version of its smart cane for the visually impaired, which addresses many of the shortcomings of the first model, as well as adding artificial intelligence features and more advanced sensors from TDK. It is positioned as an alternative to the traditional folding white cane. Company co-founder Kursat Ceylan, who has been blind since birth, says the Smart Cane 2 can make mobility easier and safer by offering features such as turn-by-turn navigation and obstacle detection, as well as a ChatGPT-based voice assistant that provides users with on-demand information without having to juggle a smartphone.
The WeWalk Smart Cane 2 has a thinner handle than its predecessor, which should provide a more comfortable grip, and the company says it is now about as light as a standard white cane. It has tactile buttons to be more user-friendly, instead of the previous model’s touch pad, which some people found difficult to use. Ceylan says it can be used in a variety of weather conditions, not just when it’s warm and dry (WeWalk describes the new cane as “rain resistant”).
“You can fold it up and down whenever you need it. It has a speaker, a microphone, obstacle detection technology, and a flashlight to make visually impaired people more visible at night. And it also has motion sensors to provide more accurate navigation,” explained Ceylan.
Under the hood, the WeWalk Smart Cane 2 has an ultrasonic time-of-flight sensor, an inertial measurement unit with six-axis motion tracking, a pulse-density modulated microphone, and a barometric pressure sensor from electronics company TDK. According to Ceylan, when it detects something ahead, it warns the user with haptic and audible feedback.
He demonstrated this in the very close, noisy environment of the Las Vegas Convention Center, and I was able to hear over the crowd as the cane told him he was approaching an obstacle – in this case, a carpeted step marked with yellow and black tape that I saw several CES attendees trip over during our conversation. It can also connect to headphones via Bluetooth.
When paired with a smartphone, it can provide navigation instructions and environmental information, as well as public transportation options. “You can hear the names of the stores and restaurants you’re driving by,” he says. At Starbucks, where he can’t read the menu, he says he can ask the assistant if they have chocolate croissants.
“You don’t have to hold your smartphone anymore when you go somewhere,” says Ceylan. “You can put it in your pocket and then get all the information with the WeWalk smart cane.” For those who want to use it, there’s a smartphone interface, which he held in his hands during the demo so I could see what was happening on the other end of the wire. Unlike the vast majority of products I’ve encountered at CES this year that seem to incorporate AI or ChatGPT for no real reason other than they can do it, this one actually felt like a situation where it makes sense and could even be quite useful.
Since this is a very new technology, we don’t know yet how all of this will be used in the real world. Pre-orders for the WeWalk Smart Cane 2 are currently open and the first wave of deliveries is expected to begin by the end of this month. There are two price models: $850 for the smart cane plus a voice assistant subscription that costs $4.99 per month, or $1,150 with no additional subscription fee for full AI use. WeWalk Smart Cane 2 is available internationally.
The London-based startup also has a partnership with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) that will begin in February, when the organization will start using WeWalk Smart Cane 2 for its cane training program. The goal is to collect meaningful data for instructors so they can really understand how people use mobile canes (with or without AI support) and help them get the most out of these tools. According to Jaylan, “It’s very important because the better you get around, the better you participate in life.”
