- General
- September 18, 2019
- 5 minutes read
Facebook Said To Be Working With Luxottica To Make AR Glasses
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg image: Anthony Quintano on Flickr According to a report from CNBC, Facebook has partnered with Luxottica to…
 |
| Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg
image: Anthony Quintano on Flickr
|
According to a report from CNBC, Facebook has partnered with Luxottica to develop augmented-reality glasses that are designed to replace smartphones. For those not familiar, Luxottica is the world’s largest eyewear company, that’s behind several eyewear brands including the famous “Ray-Ban” collection. According to CNBC, Facebook has been working to develop AR glasses out of its Facebook Reality Labs in Redmond, Washington, but faced struggles that have led it to seek help from a company like Luxottica. CNBC reports Facebook hopes a partnership with Luxottica will get its AR glasses completed and ready for consumers between 2023 and 2025.
According to CNBC, the glasses are internally codenamed “Orion”, and would allow users to take calls, see information in a small display and live-stream their camera feed to social media friends and connections. CNBC previously reported of Facebook developing an AI voice assistant that’ll serve as user input for the glasses. Facebook is also said to have experimented with a ring device that’ll let users input information via motion sensor.
Citing an unnamed person who worked on the device, CNBC says Facebook has hundreds of employees at its Redmond offices working on tech for the AR glasses, but has struggled to miniaturize it into a form that’ll be appealing to consumers. Even with that, there’s still no guarantee that the glasses will be completed on time or ever make it to production, CNBC noted. Luxottica had previously partnered with Google to design, develop and distribute the Google Glass, entailing a partnership with Facebook is not quite far-fetched.
According to CNBC, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has keen interest in the development of the AR glasses, and asked the company’s hardware chief Andrew Bosworth to make it a priority. Facebook, a company that deals mainly with software, seems to be keen on the hardware side. Not long ago, it unveiled the Facebook Portal, a brand of smart displays developed for enhanced video calling. The company also just unveiled new additions to its line-up, including a camera accessory that connects directly to a TV for better video calling.
