Facebook Teams Up With Ray-Ban to Launch Smart Glasses in 2021

Sci-tech

Facebook Teams Up With Ray-Ban to Launch Smart Glasses in 2021

18 September 2020, 07:46

The multiyear partnership was announced at the Facebook Connect conference, where the social media giant also debuted an AR wearable research device dubbed Project Aria. With EssilorLuxottica we have an equally ambitious partner who'll lend their expertise and world-class brand catalogue to the first truly fashionable smart glasses, ' said Andrew Bosworth, Vice President of Facebook Reality Labs. But with full AR, you'll be able to see digital notifications and mapping directions in front of you, removing the need to constantly pull up your smartphone.

However, Facebook acknowledges it'll take some time before the tech industry achieves anything close to true AR, so don't get your hopes up for some game-changing hardware in the immediate future.

"The research glasses do not use facial recognition identification technology, and we don't use this data to inform the ads people see across Facebook products".

The new Oculus Quest 2 and the end of the Oculus Rift line weren't the only major announcement Facebook had in store at its Facebook Connect event.

Instead, it will capture audio and video from a first-person perspective, as well as eye movement and location data, to help Facebook determine how augmented reality should work.

However, Project Aria is not yet designed for consumers.

More news: Oculus announces the Quest 2 with higher resolution displays and 90Hz support

All participants will first undergo training to learn where and when they should collect data.

The two companies are entering a field marked by repeated flops, including high-profile efforts like Intel Corp.'s Vaunt glasses and the Google Glass project spearheaded by Alphabet Inc.co-founder Sergey Brin.

The initiative is known as "Project Aria". But Facebook doesn't consider the devices an AR glasses prototype or a consumer-ready product. It is tagged as a research device to gather the necessary data. The company said it's particularly interested in whether it can build products that use a collection of sensors for multiple tasks in a power-efficient manner. Employees will also be trained to only wear the glasses in public spaces.

"Our approach to building an AR ecosystem will always put people before opportunity", the company added.

FB said it created privacy and data protection controls with the input of privacy experts, including Eli Dourado, Senior Research Fellow, Center for Growth and Opportunity, and Daniel Castro, Director of the Center for Data Innovation, Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

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