JCDecaux develops OOH with inclusive technology to promote accessibility for visually impaired people

São Paulo, March 2025 – Brazil has more than 6.5 million visually impaired people, who still find it difficult to access information in public spaces. With this in mind, JCDecaux, a global leader in Out of Home (OOH), with the collaboration of the Dorina Nowill Foundation for the Blind, a reference in inclusion and accessibility in the area, is presenting the first urban furniture with audio description of advertisements and recognition of visually impaired people using a cane.

The “OOH Para Todos” initiative, created by Euphoria Creative in partnership with Bizsys and JCDecaux, transforms urban communication by allowing advertisements from brands such as Amazon Music, Burger King, Havaianas, Hellmann’s, Ticket and the São Paulo Metro itself to be heard by visually impaired people. Together with the Dorina Foundation, the prototype was designed to break down barriers in communication and access to information, with activation at Santa Cruz Station, on Line 1-Azul of the São Paulo Metro.

“Visually impaired people want to feel part of the city, access information and know that brands really care and talk to them. Initiatives like this are fundamental to promoting inclusion and making urban communication more accessible and democratic,” says Alexandre Munck, Executive Superintendent of the Dorina Foundation.

To make the project possible, Bizsys, a technology and scenography company, has developed AI technology capable of recognizing the cane used by visually impaired people who pass by the street furniture, automatically triggering the audio description of the advertisements. The equipment will be active until the end of this month and is expected to reach more than 180,000 people every day.

“We believe that information about the city should impact everyone, without exception. That’s why we’ve developed this new tool that allows visually impaired people to listen to promotions, offers, launches and everything else interesting that advertising has to offer. After all, they are also consumers of the advertising brands,” says Marcelo Rizério, CCO of Euphoria Creative.

“We are always looking for solutions that promote social development, provide services for the population and make cities more welcoming for everyone. Creating inclusive environments is fundamental to valuing and integrating people into society,” adds Ana Célia Biondi, CEO of JCDecaux in Brazil.

“Our biggest challenge was to help create a technology that was both precise and invisible to the user, without requiring people with disabilities to interact with extra devices or applications. The artificial intelligence we developed is sensitive enough to identify the cane in the midst of urban movement and trigger the audio automatically and instantly. Seeing this technology working in practice, with real people benefiting from it, gives us the certainty that we are contributing to making cities more accessible and inclusive,” says Rodrigo Cassino, CEO of Bizsys.