Augmented Reality Is Coming for Cities
With the debut of Apple’s Vision Pro AR headset, it’s time for officials to prepare for the collision of digital and physical spaces.
The debut of Apple’s Vision Pro is a preview of what augmented reality technologies could mean in the physical world.
Photographer: Philip Pacheco/BloombergWhen Pokémon Go streaked across the cultural landscape in 2016, briefly becoming the fastest-downloaded app in history, thousands of players stampeded through parks, trespassed en masse, and may have injured nearly 30,000 people due to distracted driving in the game’s first five months alone.
It’s a particularly stark example of what cities could face if Apple’s forthcoming augmented reality (AR) headset, the Vision Pro, becomes as popular as the Apple Watch, let alone as ubiquitous as the iPhone. Although the jury is still out until “early next year” on the public’s appetite for a $3,499 pair of goggles, Apple’s insistence that it’s meant to be worn in the world around other people means it’s time for cities to finally sit up and pay attention to the small-m metaverse.