{"id":1053,"date":"2025-03-13T03:33:28","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T03:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/google-reportedly-looking-at-smart-glasses-again\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T03:33:28","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T03:33:28","slug":"google-reportedly-looking-at-smart-glasses-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/google-reportedly-looking-at-smart-glasses-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Google reportedly looking at smart glasses \u2014 again"},"content":{"rendered":"
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After abandoning its Google Glass smart glasses in 2023<\/a>, Google seems ready to take another kick at the can with what will reportedly be a $115 million acquisition of Canadian startup AdHawk Microsystems<\/a>.<\/p>\n

AdHawk has developed camera-free, MEMS-based eye-tracking technology that offers an accurate, low-latency view of where the user is looking, using considerably less power than camera-based systems. The company designs and produces all of the system\u2019s components, \u201cfrom silicon to cloud\u201d \u2014\u00a0\u00a0the chips and micro optics, the hardware, with reference designs, and the algorithms and software necessary to make it all work.<\/p>\n

Bloomberg reported<\/a>\u00a0on the potential acquisition Tuesday, citing \u201cpeople with knowledge of the matter\u201d who had asked not to be identified. \u201cThe agreement is on track to be completed this week, but it\u2019s still possible that the talks could fall apart at this late stage because the deal hasn\u2019t been signed,\u201d Bloomberg reported.<\/p>\n

Neither Google nor AdHawk responded to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Waterloo, Ontario-based AdHawk was founded in 2017 and received funding from the venture arms of tech giants including Intel, HP, Samsung, and Sony Group. It offers several products as well as its components, and touts its MindLink and MindLink Air glasses as a way for researchers and neurologists to examine the eye-brain connection.<\/p>\n

The technology is also a vital component of both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) headsets. In December 2024, Google introduced Android XR, an operating system that will work on Samsung\u2019s upcoming Moohan headset and other devices. It includes frameworks to let developers embed eye tracking in their software.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAdhawk is one of the few independent third-party solutions,\u201d said\u00a0Anshel Sag, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, \u201cbut it hasn\u2019t been as prominent in the market as some of the others that have been acquired.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

He added that Google is one of the few companies that doesn\u2019t have an eye-tracking system of its own, \u201cso it makes sense why the company would go out and get Adhawk. That said, this is a much different solution than most other eye-tracking camera-based systems and could enable some unique applications, but [it] could also limit Google\u2019s application of eye-tracking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eye tracking for AR enables better visual acuity and calibration, which can reduce eye strain as well as being used as a biometric authentication method, Sag said. It also makes better user interface experiences possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But, \u201cthere are also heavy privacy implications of eye-tracking, which I believe most companies have done a good job addressing so far,\u201d he said. \u201cMost raw eye-tracking data stays on-chip, and no biometric data leaves the device.\u201d<\/p>\n

A competitor, Tobii, already uses glasses with eye tracking in consumer scenarios to monitor eye movements in controlled environments; Sag believes Google could also use consumer data \u201cin very compelling ways\u201d \u2014 as long as it\u2019s careful about how it manages user privacy and biometric data.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As for the business world, he said, the sky\u2019s the limit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe the business use cases\u00a0are virtually unlimited\u00a0and that AI will be a strong driver of making these AR experiences compelling and financially successful,\u201d Sag said. \u201cIts\u2019 why I believe AR will inevitably surpass VR and MR in market size.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After abandoning its Google Glass smart glasses in 2023, Google seems ready to take another kick at the can with what will reportedly be a $115 million acquisition of Canadian startup AdHawk Microsystems. AdHawk has developed camera-free, MEMS-based eye-tracking technology that offers an accurate, low-latency view of where the user is looking, using considerably less […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tech"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-10-25 14:46:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpnewswire.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}