Google plans to test AR prototypes in public starting next month

Image: Google

The company will be testing augmented reality prototypes in public next month. The company wants to take its ideas from the lab into the real world. It was previously reported that the augmented reality headset would be shipped by the year 2024.

It will allow us to better understand how these devices can help people in their everyday lives. It will help us take factors such as weather and busy intersection into account, which can be difficult to recreate indoors.

The company will be testing a small number of prototypes within select areas of the US with restrictions on where they can operate and activities they can engage in. The tester will have to go through training.

The company warns that it will have prototypes that look like normal glasses, with an in-lens display and a microphone and camera on board. People can request to have the image data deleted if an indicator tells them it's being saved for analysis and testing.

Speech transcription and translation are two use cases that will be explored by the search engine. The company claims that its prototypes don't support photography or videography, though any image data captured during its tests will be deleted. The company writes that the image data is first scrubbed for sensitive content. It is stored on a secure server with limited access by a small group of people. It is erased after 30 days.

At the I/O earlier this year, a feature called translation, transcription and navigation was listed as one of the features in testing and preview glasses. In announcing these tests well ahead of when they will actually take place in the real world, the company seems to be trying to avoid a repeat of the "Glasshole" debacle that plagued the company's famous Glass headset.