An Italian startup, Out Of, is launching its first collection of sunglasses for cycling and other outdoor sports equipped with an award-winning lens, called Iris, that adapts to the ambient light in less than a second, using a small solar cell that powers a microchip and a special liquid crystal film. It can be very useful when entering a tunnel with your road bike. The battery-free set is waterproof and its photochromic range covers between 18 and 68 percent of the visible light transmission. The new collection will be presented at the Silmo optical show in Paris on Sept. 24-27. The technology was first used last year in the company’s Electra ski goggle, which was elected as best optical product of the year at the ISPO Munich show that closed on Feb. 3. For the time being, the technology doesn’t work inside a car, but the company says it is working on a new calibration of the lenses to make this possible.

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