According to the recruitment information found by 9to5Google, Google is hiring an augmented reality operating system team focused on building software for an innovative AR device. The team is led by Mark Lucovsky, who announced his joining the company this week.
Lukovsky used to work at Facebook, developing internal Android system alternatives and providing support for the company’s hardware. He was also one of the main creators of the Windows NT operating system.
According to Google’s recruitment information, the augmented reality operating system team is building software components that control and manage [its] the hardware of augmented reality (AR) products. This is far from Google’s first attempt to develop AR software. Previously, the company had done related work on ARCore and Tango on the Android system. The company’s Google glasses are oriented to the commercial and corporate markets and are currently built on the Android system.
This morning I became a Noogler. My role is to lead the Operating System team for Augmented Reality at Google.
If you are interested in joining me on this journey, I’d love to talk. Here is a link to one of the many positions I’m working to fill: https://t.co/a4glyeFxVD pic.twitter.com/hVAVKcZvQJ
— mark lucovsky (@marklucovsky) December 13, 2021
“We are focused on letting many people get immersive computing through mobile devices,” the team wrote in a job posting for senior software engineers who will be responsible for helping “create compelling AR experiences on highly customized hardware platforms. There are other recruitment information for developers focusing on cameras and input hardware, and some mention “real-time operating system (RTOS) development”.
Although most positions are in the United States, some positions are in Waterloo, Canada, where North, the augmented reality company behind the Focals smart glasses that Google acquired last year, is located here.
Between that acquisition and these public job positions, it seems that Google is getting more and more serious about developing and releasing more AR hardware.