{"id":135806,"date":"2025-01-07T16:00:06","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T16:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/news\/?id=58c4urmu"},"modified":"2025-01-07T16:00:06","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T16:00:06","slug":"walk-this-way-how-oko-leverages-ai-to-make-street-crossings-more-accessible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2025\/01\/07\/walk-this-way-how-oko-leverages-ai-to-make-street-crossings-more-accessible\/","title":{"rendered":"Walk this way: How Oko leverages AI to make street crossings more accessible"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"inline-article-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/walk-this-way-how-oko-leverages-ai-to-make-street-crossings-more-accessible.jpg\" data-img-dark=\"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/walk-this-way-how-oko-leverages-ai-to-make-street-crossings-more-accessible.jpg\" data-hires=\"false\" alt=\"Screenshots of the app Oko, which show a live camera view of a street crossing with text that says \u201cCountdown signal\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t walk signal\u201d over the image.\"><\/div>\n<p><em>Oko<\/em> is a testament to the power of simplicity.<\/p>\n<p>The 2024 Apple Design Award winner for Inclusivity and 2024 App Store Award winner for Cultural Impact leverages Artificial Intelligence to help blind or low-vision people navigate pedestrian walkways by alerting them to the state of signals \u2014 \u201cWalk,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Walk,\u201d and the like \u2014 through haptic, audio, and visual feedback. The app instantly affords more confidence to its users. Its bare-bones UI masks a powerful blend of visual and AI tools under the hood. And it\u2019s an especially impressive achievement for a team that had no iOS or Swift development experience before launch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe biggest feedback we get is, \u2018It\u2019s so simple, there\u2019s nothing complex about it,\u2019 and that\u2019s great to hear,\u201d says Vincent Janssen, one of <em>Oko<\/em>\u2019s three Belgium-based founders. \u201cBut we designed it that way because that\u2019s what we knew how to do. It just happened to also be the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p class=\"sosumi margin-top-small\">ADA FACT SHEET<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-article-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/walk-this-way-how-oko-leverages-ai-to-make-street-crossings-more-accessible-1.jpg\" data-img-dark=\"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/walk-this-way-how-oko-leverages-ai-to-make-street-crossings-more-accessible-1.jpg\" data-hires=\"false\" alt=\"Oko\u2019s three cofounders, Vincent Janssen, Michiel Janssen, and Willem Van de Mierop, gather around a bank of monitors to review their app.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"typography-caption\">\n<p>From left: Willem Van de Mierop, Michiel Janssen, and Vincent Janssen are the three cofounders of <em>Oko<\/em>. The app\u2019s name means \u201ceye.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Oko<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Winner:<\/strong> Inclusivity<\/li>\n<li><strong>Team:<\/strong> AYES BV<\/li>\n<li><strong>Available on:<\/strong> iPhone<\/li>\n<li><strong>Team size:<\/strong> 6<\/li>\n<li><strong>Previous accolades:<\/strong> 2024 App Store Award winner for Cultural Impact; App Store Editors\u2019 Choice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ayes.ai\" class=\"icon icon-after icon-chevronright\">Learn more about Oko<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/oko-cross-streets-and-maps\/id1583614988\" class=\"icon icon-after icon-chevronright\">Download Oko from the App Store<\/a><\/p>\n<p>For Janssen and his cofounders, brother Michiel and longtime friend Willem Van de Mierop, Oko \u2014 the name translates to \u201ceye\u201d \u2014 was a passion project that came about during the pandemic. All three studied computer science with a concentration in AI, and had spent years working in their hometown of Antwerp. But by the beginning of 2021, the trio felt restless. \u201cWe all had full-time jobs,\u201d says Janssen, \u201cbut the weekends were pretty boring.\u201d Yet they knew their experience couldn\u2019t compare to that of a longtime friend with low vision, who Janssen noticed was feeling more affected as the autumn and winter months went on.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe really started to notice that he was feeling isolated more than others,\u201d says Janssen. \u201cHere in Belgium, we were allowed to go for walks, but you had to be alone or with your household. That meant he couldn\u2019t go with a volunteer or guide. As AI engineers, that got us thinking, \u2018Well, there are all these stories about autonomous vehicles. Could we come up with a similar system of images or videos that would help people find their way around public spaces?\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"article-quote\">\n<p>I had maybe opened Xcode three times a few years before, but otherwise none of us had any iOS or Swift experience.<\/p>\n<p><cite><\/p>\n<p>Vincent Janssen, <em>Oko<\/em> founder<\/p>\n<p><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The trio began building a prototype that consisted of a microcomputer, 3D-printed materials, and a small portable speaker borrowed from the Janssen brothers\u2019 father. Today, Janssen calls it \u201chacky hardware,\u201d something akin to a small computer with a camera. But it allowed the team and their friend \u2014 now their primary tester \u2014 to walk the idea around and poke at the technology\u2019s potential. Could AI recognize the state of a pedestrian signal? How far away could it detect a Don\u2019t Walk sign? How would it perform in rain or wind or snow? There was just one way to know. \u201cWe went out for long walks,\u201d says Janssen.<\/p>\n<p>And while the AI and hardware performed well in their road tests, issues arose around the hardware\u2019s size and usability, and the team begin to realize that software offered a better solution. The fact that none of the three had the slightest experience building iOS apps was simply a hurdle to clear. \u201cI had maybe opened Xcode three times a few years before,\u201d says Janssen, \u201cbut otherwise none of us had any iOS or Swift experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-article-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/walk-this-way-how-oko-leverages-ai-to-make-street-crossings-more-accessible-2.jpg\" data-img-dark=\"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/walk-this-way-how-oko-leverages-ai-to-make-street-crossings-more-accessible-2.jpg\" data-hires=\"false\" alt=\"Two screenshots of the app Oko. The screenshot on the left shows a suggested walking path through a map view. The screenshot on the right shows a live image of a street crossing with the words \u201cWalk signal\u201d highlighted in a green bubble at the top of the screen.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"typography-caption\">\n<p><em>Oko<\/em> helps people navigate pedestrian walkways through interactive maps and audio, visual, and haptic feedback.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>So that summer, the team pivoted to software, quitting their full-time jobs and throwing themselves into learning Swift through tutorials, videos, and trusty web searches. The core idea crystallized quickly: Build a simple app that relied on Camera, the Maps SDK, and a powerful AI algorithm that could help people get around town. \u201cToday, it\u2019s a little more complex, but in the beginning the app basically opened up a camera feed and a Core ML model to process the images,\u201d says Janssen, noting that the original model was brought over from Python. \u201cLuckily, the tools made the conversion really smooth.\u201d (<em>Oko<\/em>\u2019s AI models run locally on device.)<\/p>\n<p>With the software taking shape, more field testing was needed. The team reached out to accessibility-oriented organizations throughout Belgium, drafting a team of 100 or so testers to \u201ccodevelop the app,\u201d says Janssen. Among the initial feedback: Though <em>Oko<\/em> was originally designed to be used in landscape mode, pretty much everyone preferred holding their phones in portrait mode. \u201cI had the same experience, to be honest,\u201d said Janssen, \u201cbut that meant we needed to redesign the whole thing.\u201d <\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-article-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/walk-this-way-how-oko-leverages-ai-to-make-street-crossings-more-accessible-3.jpg\" data-img-dark=\"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/walk-this-way-how-oko-leverages-ai-to-make-street-crossings-more-accessible-3.jpg\" data-hires=\"false\" alt=\"A group of men stand in a room with green walls looking at a large monitor that contains notes and sketches for the app *Oko*.\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"typography-caption\">\n<p>The <em>Oko<\/em> team navigates through prototypes at a review session in their hometown of Antwerp, Belgium.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Other changes included amending the audio feedback to more closely mimic existing real-world sounds, and addressing requests to add more visual feedback. The experience amounted to getting a real-world education about accessibility on the fly. \u201cWe found ourselves learning about VoiceOver and haptic feedback very quickly,\u201d says Janssen.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the project went remarkably fast \u2014 <em>Oko<\/em> launched on the App Store in December 2021, not even a year after the trio conceived of it. \u201cIt took a little while to do things, like make sure the UI wasn\u2019t blocked, especially since we didn\u2019t fully understand the code we wrote in Swift,\u201d laughs Janssen, \u201cbut in the end, the app was doing what it needed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"article-quote\">\n<p>We found ourselves learning about VoiceOver and haptic feedback.<\/p>\n<p><cite><\/p>\n<p>Vincent Janssen, <em>Oko<\/em> founder<\/p>\n<p><\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The accessibility community took notice. And in the following months, the <em>Oko<\/em> team continued expanding its reach \u2014 Michiel Janssen and Van de Mierop traveled to the U.S. to meet with accessibility organizations and get firsthand experience with American street traffic and pedestrian patterns. But even as the app expanded, the team retained its focus on simplicity. In fact, Janssen says, they explored and eventually jettisoned some expansion ideas \u2014 including one designed to help people find and board public transportation \u2014 that made the app feel a little too complex.<\/p>\n<p>Today, the <em>Oko<\/em> team numbers 6, including a fleet of developers who handle more advanced Swift matters. \u201cAbout a year after we launched, we got feedback about extra features and speed improvements, and needed to find people who were better at Swift than we are,\u201d laughs Janssen. At the same time, the original trio is now learning about business, marketing, and expansion.<\/p>\n<p>At its core, <em>Oko<\/em> remains a sparkling example of a simple app that completes its task well. \u201cIt\u2019s still a work in progress, and we\u2019re learning every day,\u201d says Janssen. In other words, there are many roads yet to cross. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/developer.apple.com\/design\/awards\/\" class=\"icon icon-after icon-chevronright\">Meet the 2024 Apple Design Award winners<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"sosumi margin-top-small\"><em>Behind the Design is a series that explores design practices and philosophies from finalists and winners of the Apple Design Awards. In each story, we go behind the screens with the developers and designers of these award-winning apps and games to discover how they brought their remarkable creations to life.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oko is a testament to the power of simplicity. The 2024 Apple Design Award winner for Inclusivity and 2024 App Store Award winner for Cultural Impact leverages Artificial Intelligence to help blind or low-vision people navigate pedestrian walkways by alerting them to the state of signals \u2014 \u201cWalk,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Walk,\u201d and the like \u2014 through [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135807,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-135806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apple-developer-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}