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.lumen takes part in All In, with a film about the future of blind mobility
CLUJ-NAPOCA, ROMANIA, 1 OCTOBER 2026 - The white cane and the guide dog have defined independent mobility for blind people for generations. Today, more than 338 million people worldwide live with visual impairment, while only around 28,000 guide dogs exist.
A team in Romania asked itself, 'What if technology could guide a person the way a guide dog does?' That question became Pedestrian Autonomous Driving AI, technology that understands the environment, identifies safe paths and guides the wearer through directional vibrations felt on the forehead, first showcased in the Glasses for the Blind.
.lumen features in All In, a new branded film series presented by The Valuable 500 and produced for them by BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions for Arrow Electronics. Commissioned by Arrow Electronics, the .lumen film follows Irina Crocker and Silvia Stelea, two blind women using the .lumen Glasses in their everyday lives.
Things easily taken for granted become the point of the story, such as walking somewhere alone, navigating a crowded street or deciding where to go and getting there.
“We built a self-driving car that sits on your head to give blind people the freedom of mobility.” Cornel Amariei, founder and CEO, .lumen
From an idea in Romania to 1,200 blind testers worldwide
Founded in Cluj-Napoca in 2020, .lumen adapted technologies developed for autonomous driving around the needs of a person. The technology has now been tested by 1,200 blind individuals, across cultures, cities and radically different environments.
Along the way, .lumen has built a portfolio of 39 patents, raised €15 million, received support from the European Innovation Council and earned international recognition, including the recent Europe's best MedTech or Innovation Honoree at CES. The company entered the Romanian market with access through the national assistive-technology voucher program. Now, .lumen is looking outward.
Recent projects have taken the Glasses to Japan and South Korea, while new pilots and partnerships are expanding across Europe. The next chapter is about taking a technology built in Romania and making it available to blind people worldwide.
“When we surpass 28,000 devices shipped, we will have changed a paradigm that is millennia old.”- Cornel Amariei
Alongside the premiere, .lumen is launching Letters to All , an invitation to people living with disabilities to tell businesses and society what still needs to change.
Watch the film. Then write the next part with us.
About .lumen
.lumen builds Physical AI for Mobility, from Glasses for the Blind to Humanoid Delivery Robots. The first application of this technology is the .lumen Glasses for the Blind, which bring the principles of autonomous driving to pedestrian mobility. The device uses artificial intelligence and haptic guidance to reproduce the main functions of a guide dog in a scalable wearable system.
About Arrow Electronics
Arrow Electronics (NYSE:ARW) sources and engineers technology solutions for thousands of leading manufacturers and service providers. With 2025 sales of $31 billion, Arrow’s portfolio enables technology across major industries and markets. Learn more at arrow.com.
About All In
All In is an original content series presented by The Valuable 500 and produced by BBC StoryWorks. The series brings together stories from across industries, including health, technology, arts and culture, and consumer goods, to explore more inclusive innovation, accessibility by design and productive partnerships in business. The series is hosted at www.allinthevaluable500.com and distributed across BBC.com and BBC StoryWorks’ social platforms.
About BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions
BBC StoryWorks is the award-winning branded content studio of BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC Group. Building on the BBC’s century-long pedigree as a trusted storyteller, StoryWorks and its team of writers, producers, designers and filmmakers work directly with partners to create beautifully crafted stories that move and inspire curious minds across platforms and across the globe. Learn more at www.bbc.com/storyworks
