Google’s smart glasses will certainly be a direct competitor to the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, both aiming to build hardware specifically for the current wave of AI.
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Google is offering travelers another option for a wearable live translator and personal travel guide. The company revealed more details about its upcoming smart glasses at the I/O developer conference on Tuesday, among a variety of other announcements.
Gentle Monster and Warby Parker will be the first eyewear brands to adopt the technology, with Warby Parker stating it would launch “after 2025.”
These glasses will directly compete with the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which recently gained a feature for real-time voice translation along with the ability to act as a tour guide. Google previously attempted smart glasses with Google Glass but discontinued them in 2015.
This also marks another example of big tech companies developing hardware with computing power designed to support advanced AI. Apple’s latest iPhone, for example, was built with dedicated AI features.
On Wednesday, OpenAI also announced it is acquiring io, a hardware startup co-founded by Jony Ive, who led the design of the iPhone, iMac, and iPad.
In December, Google introduced Android XR — the operating system for the smart glasses and an upcoming headset — developed in collaboration with Samsung and Qualcomm. It’s built with an AI assistant powered by Gemini, allowing users to control the device by voice and have conversations about what’s in view.
Google showcased several of the headset’s travel-related features during Tuesday’s event.
The glasses will be equipped with a camera, microphones, and speakers. There’s also an optional in-lens display for private viewing of information. The glasses connect to the user’s phone and apps, and developers can begin building apps for the platform later this year.
The translation feature glitched during Google’s live demo, but the company still has time to refine it.
In the demo, one user spoke Hindi and another spoke Farsi. Each spoke a phrase in their respective languages, and the other saw the English translation as text through their glasses. The first phrase worked, but then the AI lagged and the demo ended prematurely.
Nishtha Bhatia, product manager for glasses and AI at Google, did a live demo on Tuesday to show how the glasses can help users navigate a city.
The demonstration showed that the AI can remember what it sees and answer questions about it later. The glasses can also take photos and videos and save them to the user’s phone.
Bhatia: “Gemini, what was the name of the cafe on the cup I had earlier?”
Gemini: “Hm, that might have been Bloomsgiving. From what I can tell, it’s a lively coffeehouse on Castro Street.”
Bhatia: “Can you show me the pictures of that cafe? I want to check out the vibes.”
Gemini: Shows the Bloomsgiving listing from Google Maps.
Bhatia: “Gemini, show me what it would take to walk there.”
Gemini: “Getting those directions now. It’ll take you about an hour.” Then the glasses display step-by-step directions and a 3D map through the lenses.
Bhatia: “Go ahead and send Dieter an invite for that cafe and to get coffee at 3 p.m. today.”
Gemini: “I’ll send that invite now. Enjoy the coffee.” Gemini connects to Calendar to schedule the appointment.
Samsung’s Project Moohan is the first device powered by Android XR, set to be available later this year. Developers have been creating apps and games for the headset since last year.
The headset is designed to compete with devices like the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest.
It features both virtual reality — where the entire visual is digital — and augmented reality, which overlays digital elements onto the real world.
Using the Google Maps app, users can look over and through cities in virtual reality, as well as view landmarks as if standing in front of them in person. As Google demonstrated: A user could say, “Can you take me to Florence?” and the app “teleports” the user there.
Then, the user might ask, “Can you show me immersive videos of this area… and where can I book a tour?” The device switches to augmented reality to display search results. Google’s demo showed three virtual screens in the user’s living room: a map of Florence, a YouTube search of immersive Florence videos, and a travel blog.
Through the Major League Baseball app, users will be able to watch a live game while chatting with Gemini about what’s happening.