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Driving change: Ottawa startup Kilonova Interactive uses VR to get students road-ready

February 14, 2025

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What if a new driver could practise driving with no risk of injury or damages? That is exactly what Karim Ismail sought to do in collaboration with Ottawa driving school Safe2Pass. Ismail, founder and CEO of Kilonova Interactive, had the idea back in October to create a virtual reality (VR) experience for the students of Safe2Pass as part of their in-class training that would “bridge the gap between the theoretical and the real world.” “Driving is a great use case for VR, because where else can you practise these life-threatening things with absolutely zero risk to your life?” he said. Ismail, a former Safe2Pass student, said he brought his idea to owner Jawad Ali, who provided Ismail with his teaching materials to craft the experience. “I used his slides and lectures to make something that followed the curriculum. We have things (in the experience) like lane switching, busy roads, knowing how to read your car’s instruments, uncontrolled intersections and scenarios where you have to judge whether it’s safe or not to cross,” he said. Once the student has put on the VR headset, they go through three “chapters,” each with its own series of smaller tests. “We wanted the experience to be short enough so the whole class could do it. The tests are divided into topics covered by the school – knowledge, judgment and observation,” he said. For the observation chapter, the VR experience uses something called “gaze tracking” to keep score of what the student noticed. “Gaze tracking means we know what the student is looking at. So, did they see that bus coming? Did they look at all their mirrors or blind spots?” he said. At the end of the three chapters, participants get scored based on their performance. Ismail said he wanted to turn what is usually a stressful situation into a happier one. “I wanted to make it as positive as possible. They already feel stressed enough (about their test). We made it with bright colours, happy checkmarks (when they complete their tests) and we even put a puppy in the seat next to them.” After four months of testing and tweaking, the Safe2Pass VR experience launched two weeks ago, and Ismail said the program has been well received by students. “It was an amazing response. We have the most amazing photos of kids just smiling from ear to ear, while inside the experience,” he said. “It’s the perfect thing to do on the last day of sessions before their test.” His second attempt at a startup, Kilonova started in 2023. With his technical VR knowledge, Ismail wanted to bring those skills and apply them to where other businesses might benefit from them, whether it was promotion or training. Ismail said he learned some valuable lessons with his first startup, Muscle Map, which has led him to successes with Kilonova. “(Muscle Map) is a map that shows you where the machines are inside the gym. Let’s say you want to (exercise your) chest, it will show you what to do. We had discussions with GoodLife, but it wasn’t solving a No. 1 problem (of theirs),” he said. He took the concept of providing a solution to an existing problem when Kilonova created VR driving lessons for Safe2Pass. “The main problem (for driving schools) is spreading the word. So now, a kid will go back home and tell his parents about the VR experience. His parents will tell other parents, so this fixes a huge word-of-mouth problem that driving schools have,” he said. Kilonova is self-funded. Its core team consists of Ismail and his brother, who are aided by freelancers and contractors. “Our funding is based on the money we get and our savings. Both of us have (other) jobs, and I’m also studying for an MBA (at Carleton University),” Ismail said. He said they will be seeking investor funding, but only when he feels the time is right. “We’re very much against the idea of having funding just to have funding. We want to get the product-market fit first. The worst thing you can do is meet with investors and have them dislike the whole pitch, so you want to build a positive relationship from the start. Once we have that solid traction, we’re going to seek investor funding for sure,” he said. With a few years of experience under his belt, Ismail said Kilonova is seeing early revenue growth, though it hasn’t passed the $100,000 mark yet. “We’re in a Slack group with a bunch of other founders in the area and (someone sent) OBJ’s Fastest Growing Companies (submission page). We’re definitely not at the $100,000 revenue criteria yet, but we’re seeing revenue growth from last year. We’re hoping to build on the success of this current project and go from there,” Ismail said. After completing Invest Ottawa’s Ignition IO program for new companies in 2022, Ismail and his brother have built a good relationship with their network of founders in the nation’s capital. Ismail is focused on creating more VR experiences for driving schools around Ottawa and is also looking at expanding into different verticals. “We’re prototyping a VR training simulator for HR scenarios and fire training for employees as well as brand promotion,” he said. To help them promote their brand, Ismail created a virtual reality experience for local juice shop Juice Dudez to give customers an idea of what goes into the creation of their drinks and desserts. Looking to the future, Ismail said he would love to expand Kilonova into other regions, but doesn’t want to spread resources too thin.