Apple iPhone AR, VR Could Improve After Eye-Tracking Company SMI Acquisition

Apple has acquired German eye-tracking company SensoMotoric Instruments (SMI), MacRumors reported Monday. SMI has been working on eye-tracking and vision related technology since its inception in 1991. It became active in the virtual reality segment in 2016 when it announced an eye-tracking development kit for the HTC Vive VR headset.

In the report, MacRumors cited the power of attorney signed by German law firm Hiking Kühn Lüer Wojtek giving power to Delaware-based shell company Vineyard Capital Corporation to represent it in all business related to the acquisition. Curiously, the agreement has been signed by Gene Levoff, Apple’s vice president of corporate law, which indicates Vineyard Capital Corporation might be one of the shell companies owned by Apple that it uses to hide its acquisitions.

Further, the document has been notarized in Cupertino, California, where Apple is headquartered. SMI has since updated its website and removed the jobs portal, news blog, and contact information. According to the report, the company had actually been hiring until last week.

Read: Apple Hires NASA AR Expert To Work on AR Glasses

Apple gave the usual response when asked for a comment on the development by TechCrunch: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.” The amount Apple paid as a part of the deal is not known yet, and also whether Apple would let SMI function as an independent company or absorb it within its larger framework.

SMI has been working in the arena of eye-tracking hardware and software for close to three decades in the segments of augmented (AR) and virtual reality (VR) in-car systems, clinical research, cognitive training, linguistics, neuroscience, physical training and biomechanics, and psychology. It has also developed eye-tracking technology for VR headsets such as the Oculus Rift, which responds to the person wearing the VR headset and coordinates the headset with his/her gaze to help reduce motion sickness.

The company has also developed a product similar to the one Apple is rumored to launch alongside the iPhone 8. SMI has its own eye-tracking glasses, which seem similar to Apple’s rumored smart glasses.

Apple’s upcoming smartphone — the iPhone 8 — is expected to have AR and VR features. The tech giant recently announced its ARkit to help developers create augmented reality experiences. The company also added VR development support to the new iMac Pro. This is the first time it has added VR support to any of its devices.

Read: 5 Expected Features Of Apple Smart Glasses

Apart from the glasses, SMI has also developed a VR technology called foveated rendering, which locates the VR area exactly in front of the user’s gaze and renders it at full resolution, blurring out the rest. This decreases process load and VR can therefore be run using more performance efficient metrics. Apple might be able to use the technology to create high-resolution VR and AR experiences.

Apple seems to be going full steam ahead when it comes to AR and VR technology. Apart from the rumored AR glasses, the company is also rumored to have employed 1,000 engineers to work on AR-related tech, according to Wccftech.