Facebook calls on Luxottica, the maker of Ray-Ban, for the manufacture of AR glasses "Orion & # 39;

Facebook has been working for two years developing augmented reality glasses from its Facebook Reality Labs labs in Redmond, Washington, but difficulties related to the development of the project have led the company to ask help. Now Facebook is hoping that a partnership with Ray-Ban's parent company, Luxottica, will prepare them to be comprehensive and ready for consumers between 2023 and 2025, according to familiar people.

The glasses have the internal code name Orion and are designed to replace smartphones, the users said. The glasses would allow users to take calls, show them information on a small screen and broadcast their point of view live to their friends and subscribers on social networks.

Facebook is also developing a voice assistant with artificial intelligence that would be used as user input for glasses, CNBC reported earlier. In addition, the company has experimented with a ring device that would allow users to enter information via a motion sensor. This device calls itself Agios.

The company employs hundreds of employees in its Redmond offices working on anti-glare technology, but so far Facebook has struggled to reduce the size of the device to a format that consumers will find attractive, said a person who worked on this device. CNBC.

Given the long lead time, there is no guarantee that the glasses will be finished on time or shipped. But someone familiar with the project said CEO Mark Zuckerberg had a keen interest in the glasses and asked equipment manager Andrew Bosworth to prioritize them.

Facebook declined to comment. Luxottica did not immediately return the request for comment.

Facebook is not alone in thinking that smart glasses superimposing computer-generated images to the real world will be the next major step in computer science. Already, Microsoft is manufacturing the HoloLens 2 headset, Snapchat's parent company, Snap, is selling its Spectacles eyewear and the Florida start-up, Magic Leap, is selling its Magic Leap One AR glasses, though none of these devices has become a success. Apple would also work on a similar product that could come on the market as early as next year.

Luxottica is the parent company of Ray-Ban, Oakley and other brands of sunglasses. The company had already experimented with this technology and in 2014 partnered with Google to design, develop and distribute the Google Glass device.

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