A new industry alliance has formed with the goal of accelerating development of augmented reality (AR) hardware and devices. The AR Alliance, launching today, aims to provide a collaborative environment for companies across the AR ecosystem to work together on innovation and establishing standards.
The alliance grew out of the LaSAR Alliance, which focused specifically on laser beam scanning technology. The AR Alliance has a broader mandate, encompassing all hardware involved in AR, including displays, sensors, optics, batteries and more. Founding members include companies like STMicroelectronics and EssilorLuxottica. EssilorLuxottica, a major producer of ophthalmic lenses and eyewear, has joined as a founding member with a seat on the board of directors.
According to Bharath Rajagopalan, chair of the AR Alliance, the group will provide a neutral ground for companies to coordinate on advancing AR technology. By bringing together players across the hardware supply chain, the alliance hopes to speed breakthroughs that will make AR devices more usable and accessible.
The AR market is still nascent, but the AR Alliance aims to foster an ecosystem that can enable mainstream consumer adoption. The alliance is open to any hardware maker involved in AR technology. Members will collaborate on solving technical challenges and share lessons learned from early AR implementations.
While optimistic about AR’s potential, the alliance seeks to take a balanced approach to avoid over-hyping the technology before it is ready. Their goal is to pragmatically work together to overcome the hurdles still facing AR and build the hardware foundations needed to support future applications.
