VoxelSensors acquires EyeWay Vision’s IP portfolio to expand its gaze tracking technology for XR

In General XR News

February 22, 2024 – VoxelSensors, a Belgian semiconductor company specializing in 3D perception technology for extended reality (XR), has today announced the acquisition of EyeWay Vision’s industrial and intellectual property (IP) portfolio, along with its expertise in gaze tracking and projection technology for XR. VoxelSensors did not disclose the acquisition amount.

Founded in 2014, EyeWay Vision is an Israeli company pioneering immersive XR glasses. Its offering consists of a novel gaze contingent projection architecture including underlying technology, such as dynamic exit pupil shifter, varifocal foveated projection, laser-based gaze tracker, and sequential graphical pipeline.

According to VoxelSensors, this architecture simultaneously addresses many critical XR requirements, such as:

• Power efficiency for all-day use
• Daylight visibility and dynamic range
• Solves the vergence accommodation conflict and continuous varifocal interaction
• Has zero perceived latency and image persistence
• “Virtually pixel-less” and photorealistic perceived 5K image; and
• Situational awareness due to a wide dynamic field-of-view (FoV).

VoxelSensors stated that the integration of EyeWay Vision’s technology with its own Single Photon Active Event Sensor (SPAES) will strengthen the company’s position in spatial and empathic computing for mobile and XR.

“The combined power of SPAES and EyeWay Vision’s technology addresses customer demands for power-efficient, low-latency, and precise perception and interaction systems. This opens exciting new opportunities for integration in mobile and XR platforms, with fully immersive and intuitive experiences that redefine spatial and empathic computing,” said Ward van der Tempel, CTO of VoxelSensors. “The synergy of technologies pushes the boundaries of what is possible and marks a major step forward in our industry.”

The acquisition follows the recent closure of VoxelSensors’ EUR €9.5 million Seed Round, which the company stated has empowered it to push forward with its ambitions of fusing depth sensing and gaze tracking for delivering enhanced immersive experiences. The company is now set to expedite the development and rollout of its technology with an upcoming Series-A funding round.

“The acquisition of EyeWay Vision’s IPs and the mobile depth system mark key milestones for VoxelSensors,” stated Johannes Peeters, CEO of VoxelSensors. “Together, these advancements position us as a major player in the rapidly evolving spatial and empathic computing market for mobile and XR devices. By combining our technologies, we can offer seamless and intuitive interactions in these domains, significantly enhancing user experience while utilizing our efficient SPAES sensor.”

VoxelSensors added that it will soon preview at MWC Barcelona its first Spatial Awareness system for mobile, powered by one of the company’s SPAES sensors, as well as a single illuminator. This novel system is part of the company’s offering for delivering low-power, low-latency, and precise spatial awareness and empathic computing.

The company noted that its Spatial Awareness system has applications for intuitive user interfaces, biometric face authentication, enhanced photos and videos, and mobile augmented experiences.

For more information on VoxelSensors and its 3D perception technology, including its Single Photon Active Event Sensor for XR, please visit the company’s website.

Image credit: VoxelSensors / EyeWay Vision