OptikosPrime partners with RED Driver Training to introduce smartphone-based vision screening to UK learner drivers

Copenhagen-based OptikosPrime has partnered with UK driver education provider RED Driver Training to build its VisionCheck smartphone vision screening software into the Learn to Drive with RED app. The rollout is nationwide. Learner drivers can check their eyesight on an ordinary smartphone, and those flagged for a possible problem are encouraged to get a professional eye examination before their practical driving test.

VisionCheck is embedded directly in the app and its digital learning curriculum. It uses the phone's camera sensors and image processing to run a screening in under a minute, with no extra optical hardware. It screens for potential refractive errors, and learners who show signs of one are advised to book a comprehensive exam with an optometrist. OptikosPrime also makes Argus, a tool that estimates a person's eyesight prescription from a smartphone photo. Its computer-vision software targets healthcare, retail and humanitarian uses.

RED is headquartered in Teesside and has more than 1,700 instructors, delivering over 1.3 million hours of driver training a year. For OptikosPrime, this is its largest consumer transportation deployment so far and gives it a large audience outside clinical settings.

The companies point to a road safety concern. UK drivers must meet minimum eyesight standards, yet research they cite suggests more than 1.2 million motorists may be driving below the required level. Department for Transport figures show people aged 17 to 24 hold 6% of driving licences but are involved in 24% of fatal and serious collisions.

OptikosPrime's leaders say most people only see an optometrist after their vision has clearly worsened, and they argue that catching changes before a learner gets a full licence is a practical, scalable use of software. RED's CEO, Seb Goldin, says the aim is for students to learn about any need for correction before their first in-vehicle lesson.