Google is working on a top secret AR headset project

Google is developing an Augmented Reality (AR) headset codenamed Project Iris. The company is eyeing a release window of 2024, according to sources.

Sources close to the publication claim that the wearable would be standalone, meaning it would house a battery, a custom Google processor, outward-facing cameras and will run on Android. The headset may also take advantage of cloud-based rendering to overcome processor limitations.

Clay Bavor, vice-president at Google Labs, which is also overseeing other projects including Project Starline, will head the project.

Besides Bavor, Scott Huffman from the Google Assistant team, Shahram Izadi, who handled work on ARCore and Mark Lucovsky, former in-house OS lead at Meta, are said to be part of the project. The Pixel hardware team will also be involved.

Google is keeping this project top secret and access is limited. There are 300 people working on the project for now but Google plans to hire more. Project head Bavor will report directly to CEO Sundar Pichai.