technology

I just visited a company in Finland that can turn any transparent surface — windows, glasses, plastic, anything — into a 3D display that perfectly augments what you see behind it.

Welcome to Distance. One of the most exciting companies in Europe right now. And they're only two years old.

We're not talking about a tiny rectangle in the corner of your windshield. The entire glass becomes your screen.

They showed this to Kia's design team. It led to a concept car with a full edge-to-edge 3D windshield that paints navigation onto the actual road, shows you what the car sees, highlights threats, and yes, could theoretically replace every Pepsi billboard with a Coke one.

But the defense side is where it gets serious.

As a neighbor to Russia, Finland feels the pain of Ukraine very directly. The Distance team wanted to be part of the solution.

Their field operator headset gives soldiers jet fighter-grade situational awareness.

Any sensor (thermal, infrared, multispectral) overlaid onto what you actually see. Tested in over a dozen field trials with the Finnish army. Driving armored vehicles in arctic conditions in the middle of the night with full 3D perception.

The field operator headset effectively allows soldiers to see through smoke, and with extra cameras even behind walls.

Some of what they showed us had never been shown publicly before. And there's more cooking under the hood they couldn't share yet.