These AI-driven systems play a crucial role in processing sensory input and providing meaningful insights to help individuals with visual impairments navigate and interact with their surroundings more effectively. In the context of addressing the needs of visually impaired individuals, this article introduces an innovative concept aimed to provide assistance discreetly and effectively. To ensure a subtle and inconspicuous design, this concept takes the form of a backpack equipped with a range of smart features. The primary function of this backpack couples the potential of the Visible Light Communications (VLCs) technology [7; 8], to facilitate information transmission to the user through the indoor lighting systems. It can be recalled here that VLCs are a new wireless communication technology that uses the visible light for simultaneous illumination and data transfer [7; 8], with high potential in distance measurement, relative positioning [9], and environment sensing [10]. Consequently, different from other technologies, VLC is developing on top of a preexisting LED lighting infrastructure, providing it with a high potential to be a ubiquitous technology. In addition to the VLC features, for situations where outdoor conditions prevail and/or when VLC coverage is unavailable, the prototype incorporates additional sensors designed for obstacle detection. These sensors offer a wide total coverage angle of 240 degrees, primarily focused on the front of the user, enhancing safety and awareness. Once the relevant information is obtained from the VLC infrastructure through the VLC receivers and/or from the obstacle detection sensors, the system is able to dispatch it for the user by audio and/or by haptic means. Therefore, this article aims to provide the findings from the experimental evaluation of the VLC-based smart backpack within a complex real-world scenario. In this scenario, a visually impaired user intends to navigate from point A to point B, relying on guidance provided by the backpack. The results of this evaluation are highly promising, as they show that the prototype enables the user to receive crucial information and subsequently reach their desired destination efficiently, discreetly, swiftly, and most importantly, in a secure manner. Thus, this article continues and complements [11; 12], by providing a comprehensive presentation of the prototype design, the implementation process, and additional experimental results confirm the benefits of the proposed concept. The rest of this article is structured as follows. Section 2 provides a brief overview concerning the trends in developing blind persons-assisting solutions and a motivation for the use of the VLC technology in such applications. Then, Section 3 debates the aspectsregarding the design and implementation of the VLC-based blind persons' assistance solution, presenting the requirements of the system and describing the manner in which this system responds to them. Next, once the prototype has been presented, Section 4 comes to deliver the results of the experimental evaluation of the system's components as well as the result of the concept evaluation in a complex user-assistance situation. Then, Section 5 provides a discussion meant to point out the importance of this work and of its possible perspectives, and Section 6 provides the conclusions of this article. State-of-the-Art Systems and Solutions for Visually Impaired Persons Assistance and Visible Light Communications Potential