Facebook Working On Smart Glasses with Ray-Ban

According to a recent report, Facebook is working with Ray-Ban on a smart glasses project codenamed Orion.

For the past couple of years, the Facebook Reality Labs in Redmond, Washington has been working on augmented reality glasses. However, the tech company is reportedly struggling with reducing the glasses’ size to a form factor that’ll look appealing to consumers.

That’s where the partnership with Ray-Ban’s parent company, Luxottica comes in. Facebook hopes that its alliance with the world’s largest eyewear company could deliver consumer-ready smart glasses within the next three to five years.

According to CNBC, the world’s biggest social networking company is designing the AR glasses to replace smartphones.

That means, aside from allowing users to receive phone calls, the smart glasses should also feature a small display for sharing information. Also, users will be able to live-stream what they see to their social media followers.

The social media behemoth is considering various input methods for the AR glasses.

For example, Facebook is reportedly experimenting with a ring device codenamed Agios, which uses a motion sensor to input information. The company is also developing an artificial intelligence voice assistant for the glasses.

Augmented Reality Glasses Could Be the Next Big Thing in Computing

Now more than ever, tech companies are working on developing smart glasses for consumers.

We already have Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 headset. There’s also Snapchat‘s Spectacles which can take still images or capture users’ world in 3D.

Last October, North launched its smart Focals, which offers features like Spotify control, weather information, audio recording, turn-by-turn direction and more. Apple is also reportedly working on a similar product that could arrive as early as 2020.

With that said, none of the previous or existing smart glasses in the market have enjoyed significant success.

Google Glass failed in 2013 due to software issues and the glasses weird form factor. Since then, Google has revived the device as Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 for corporate users, and it comes with a $999 price tag.

One can only hope that Facebook’s upcoming AR glasses has better luck with consumers.