Rita El Khoury / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The Google XR software improvement chief, Mark Lucovsky, has abruptly left the company.
- Lucovsky criticized Google’s “unstable commitment and vision” within the house.
- The XR crew was blended into two different divisions, the identical that oversee smartphones, wearables, and so forth.
The launch of Apple’s XR headset, referred to as the Vision Pro, has thrown the trade into chaos. Allegedly, Samsung slapped a big delay on launching an XR headset it’s engaged on. At the identical time, Meta tried to outgun Apple by launching the Meta Quest 3 proper earlier than Apple unveiled the Vision Pro.
It seems the Vision Pro lightning rod has hit Google XR groups, too. According to a self-penned tweet, Senior Director of Engineering — answerable for OS and Software Platform for AR and XR units — Mark Lucovsky has left Google (h/t 9to5Google). In the tweet, Lucovsky slammed the door on the way in which out, metaphorically:
I’ve determined to step away from my position at Google, the place I used to be Senior Director of Engineering, answerable for OS and Software Platform for AR and XR units. The current adjustments in AR management and Google’s unstable dedication and imaginative and prescient have weighed closely on my determination.
If you possibly can’t see the embedded tweet above, Lucovsky cites “Google’s unstable commitment and vision” as one of many greater explanation why he determined to give up. Those are robust phrases and make it clear that his departure was not amicable.
Google XR lead leaves the company
We don’t know a lot about Google’s AR/VR ambitions. We know that Google and Samsung are working collectively to create…one thing. The two firms made an announcement as such in the course of the launch of the Galaxy S23 collection. From what we perceive, Android is the premise for this specific venture.
We additionally know that Google has a crew of individuals engaged on software associated to XR methods and that software is probably going not primarily based on Android. It is unclear if these groups are one and the identical or contain loads of overlap. One factor we do know now’s that Lucovsky’s former crew has been merged underneath the 2 divisions that oversee the Made by Google merchandise. To be clear, that’s Hiroshi Lockheimer’s software crew (Android, Chrome OS, and so forth.) and Rick Osterloh’s {hardware} crew.
It’s additionally unclear how a lot of a setback Lucovsky’s departure is for no matter Google is planning. Judging from the fast shift of Lucovsky’s crew into different divisions, it’s potential Google was as sad with Lucovsky as he apparently was with the company. That could be a probable clarification for Google’s motion of the crew fairly than selling another person to switch Lucovsky.
Either means, Lucovsky’s assertion makes it clear that issues aren’t going so easily with Google’s XR ambitions.