Recently, technology leader Bosch entered the XR marketplace; by re-invigorating the development of its AR wearables hardware. Via its Sensortec division, the firm is announcing Light Drive, an AR wearable solution to support smart glasses’ long-term or “all-day” wearability.
Commonly, an issue behind immersive wearables is how the device sits on a user’s head and, at times, the demanding nature of immersive visualisations on the user’s vision or surroundings. While details are slim, Bosch’s experience in creating consumer and industrial hardware brings a certain level of much-need expertise towards hardware development and deployment.
In a social media post, Bosch stated:
We are thrilled to announce that with our cutting-edge display solution, Light Drive, we are revolutionizing all-day AR smartglasses!Our retina-scan-based display solution enables a new benchmark for truly all-day smart wearability. – How can we support you in realizing your smart glasses?
According to the post, the Light Drive solutions provide a “unique visual experience,” delivering a bright and clear display that is ” always in focus” for users and is affected by outdoor areas.
Moreover, Bosch highlighted how the Lgiht Drive solution ensures high lens transparency, prescription lens support, a 40-gram weight, and integrated camera-less eye tracking that enables users to access contextual AR information and visualisations seamlessly. Additionally, Light Drive aims to support individual users’ privacy with an immersive content display only visible to the user.
Alognside its development of consumer devices for the kitchen and other areas of a home, it should be noted how Bosch has many arms in the industrial and automotive sectors. So the concept of Bosch moving towards AR could hold value in its commitments to industries that may provide fruitful partners in the future.
History of Bosch AR Smart Glasses
Despite the recent announcement coming out without much lead-up. Bosch has been openly working on AR smart glasses since 2020.
In an old press release from that year, Bosch highlighted Light Drive for the first time following a showcase at CES 2020. In the 2020 press release, Bosch highlighted how the smart glasses could be used for car or bike navigation, shopping, and cooking, giving a clear projection of where the firm sees a potential customer base.
The history of the device is long, and it appears that despite Bosch being somewhat quiet over the five-year development period, the firm is clearly ready to showcase something big. Moreover, CES 2025 is just around the corner, and if history repeats itself, then the firm will more than likely unveil more details in January.
Additionally, the announcement is timely and makes sense. Interest in AR smart glasses is as high as ever, and Bosch is most likely setting its stakes in the market as significant firms such as Samsung are also poised to enter the smart glasses market.
With its incredibly deep experience in consumer electronics, it will be interesting to see how Bosch can shake up the market.
Exploring the 2025 Future of AR Smart Glasses
To examine the emerging market for augmented reality wearables leading up to 2025, Kevin O’Donovan, Co-Chair of the Industrial Metaverse & Digital Twin Committee at VRARA, and Jennifer Rogers, Executive Officer of the Learning Technology Standards Committee at the IEEE, discussed the latest trends influencing the sector during the most recent edition of the Big XR News Show.
Modern AR devices are exceptionally powerful and offer effective technological solutions today. The number of companies in this space is vast, with each hardware provider presenting unique selling points. However, challenges remain, such as limited offerings of immersive services, device weight, and battery life. It is essential to recognize the efforts of innovative hardware providers addressing these issues.
O’Donovan said that “hardware will become much less frictionless. But as I say, there are plenty of headsets out there today—AR, VR, and MR—that do a brilliant job for certain use cases.”
The market for augmented reality (AR) smart glasses still has a long way to go before it reaches what can be considered a “smartphone moment,” where AR wearables and 3D data interaction become essential technologies for everyone. Recently, Meta showcased its Orion device at Connect 2024, which Zuckerberg described as a “time machine”—a device that could be integrated into users’ lives within the next decade.
The Orion device is expensive and complex to produce, yet there is significant hype surrounding it. With Meta planning to continue its partnership with Ray-Ban’s parent company through 2030, Meta envisions a future where advanced AR smart glasses become commonplace.
O’Donovan added:
OpenAI and Meta bring this to the masses, and that’s going to continue at a pace. I think whoever cracks that will discover the next smartphone market, so no wonder they’re chasing after it.
O’Donovan added that new devices like the Apple Vision Pro have generated a lot of interest; however, the “experience is not perfect” due to the amount of hardware required; “the laws of physical can’t make that smaller yet.”
“There’s not going to be a breakthrough in the next 12 months,” regarding major form factor hurdles however “for niche use cases, there are devices,” O’Donovan added.
Rogers also highlighted that many industry experts and leaders have experience using smart glasses for industrial applications rather than consumer applications. However, there are clear challenges regarding the usability of AR wearables in high-pressure enterprise and industrial environments: “Industrial applications have struggled with this issue for some time.”
To support Kev’s point, Rogers mentioned that due to the limitations of the hardware that vendors can currently integrate into wearable XR devices, there are still obstacles that hinder the widespread adoption of AR devices in enterprise sectors. Significant factors affecting adoption include form factor, the risk of distracting workers in potentially dangerous environments, zone-rating requirements, and more.
Rogers added:
As people are starting to move beyond the pilot, it’s important to look at what devices work for different applications. I think people are still in the process of doing that. A lot of the senior leaders who may be able to make decisions in some of these organizations aren’t even aware of the different nuances in AR and the different types of devices that they might need in different types of environments and for different purposes. I think we’ve still got a fair amount of work to do there.
However, the smart glasses market will only grow with Ray Ban’s sales success and Vzuix’s entry into the consumer market. How this shapes the market is yet to be seen, but further time and capital investments are inevitable.
