Smart glasses, robotaxis and slushies: the promise and pitfalls of Canberra's tech boom

The same week Reed Jobs told a conference he'd rather cure cancer than trade on his father's legacy, a start-up in Canberra's tech precinct was quietly testing a pair of smart glasses with no camera. The device, from a company called Even Realities, is designed for productivity-no recording, no surveillance. It's a deliberate ethical stand in a sector often defined by its surveillance creep.

The contrast captures a moment. On one side, the promise of breakthrough cancer research and heat-wave-saving slushie machines. On the other, a robotaxi ultimatum from regulators who want answers before the autonomous cars flood city streets. Here in Canberra, the same tensions are playing out in boardrooms, co-working spaces and town hall meetings. The question is not whether the tech will arrive-it already has-but whether the city's infrastructure, laws and public trust can keep up.

The hard sell of invisible tech

Even Realities' bet on camera-free smart glasses is a direct response to a growing privacy backlash. In Canberra's civic-tech community, where the ACT government has trialled everything from AI-powered traffic lights to digital health records, the device has drawn interest from public servants who see its potential for field work-inspections, logistics, repairs-without the creep factor of always-on recording.

But the very feature that makes the glasses ethically appealing-no camera-also limits their utility. Developers in the city's startup hub on Northbourne Avenue say the absence of visual input makes some enterprise applications clunky. One local engineer described the trade-off as 'privacy-safe but feature-light'. The question being debated at meetups around Braddon is whether the market will reward restraint or punish it.

Meanwhile, the slushie machine that proved a lifesaver during New York City's recent heat wave has sparked conversations among Canberra's event organisers and public-space managers. The machine, which dispenses frozen drinks using a proprietary cooling system, is being examined by local businesses as a possible low-tech solution to heat-stress risks during summer markets in Garema Place and along the lake. But a city official cautioned that the device's power draw and water usage raise sustainability questions that haven't been fully answered.

Autonomy, accountability and the trust gap

The robotaxi ultimatum reported by TechCrunch on July 12 underscores the biggest challenge facing Canberra's tech scene: how to test ambitious technology without alienating the public. Waymo and Cruise have both held preliminary discussions with ACT transport authorities about potential pilot zones, according to two people familiar with the talks. But the regulator has made clear it expects full liability frameworks before any vehicle carries a fare-paying passenger.

The ethical questions run deeper. Who is at fault when an autonomous car hits a cyclist on Commonwealth Avenue? How does a machine prioritise lives in a split-second decision? These are not abstract thought experiments in Canberra-they're the subject of a working group inside the ACT Legislative Assembly that has been meeting since April.

For now, the city's tech community is walking a fine line. Venture capital is flowing into local startups-particularly in climate tech, health data and autonomous systems-but every investment pitch now includes a slide on 'ethical risk'. That wasn't standard practice two years ago.

What happens next depends on how quickly Canberrans decide they trust the machines and how seriously the builders take their doubts. The public meetings scheduled for August on autonomous-vehicle trials will be a test. If the industry shows up with honest answers, the tech might get the social licence it needs. If not, the glass will stay empty-camera-free or not.

For the founders in the Braddon co-working spaces, the lesson from this week's headlines is clear: the hardest problem in tech isn't the code. It's the trust.