Global e-commerce platform giant Amazon has been recruiting for an unpublished AR/VR product in recent months, and the vacancies Amazon hopes to fill include a variety of senior positions such as computer vision engineers, designers, project managers, product managers, researchers and technicians, suggesting that the company is looking to build a substantial team to advance the AR/VR project, According to Protocol. Amazon declined to comment on the matter.
One of the job descriptions reads: "You will develop advanced XR research concepts into a new consumer product that is magical and useful" Another job description also shows plans related to XR/AR devices, noting that eventual recruitment will be part of "new area development efforts," which includes "developing code for early prototype products through mass production."
In addition, Amazon is looking to hire UX designers to develop "core system interfaces and end-user applications from multi-modal interfaces to 3D AR entertainment experiences," and suggests that candidates should have "the ability to think spatially using 3D, and design experience in motion design, animation and AR/VR, games, and more." Applicants for the senior product manager position were told they should have "experience building deep technology products, such as AI/ML, robotics, games." ”
Unlike the likes of Microsoft, Meta, and Google, Amazon has been on the sidelines when it comes to AR/VR hardware. However, Amazon has filed a number of AR/VR-related hardware patents and developed its own smart glasses, called Echo Frames, but the product currently has no vision components.
In addition, as an e-commerce giant, the company has provided a series of AR visualization technologies. While this does lay the groundwork for building a real AR device in the future, no news has been found so far that Amazon actually assembled its team and started building a prototype.
Interestingly, many job listings describe the project as related to a "magically useful brand new XR consumer product," suggesting it may be looking to build a new product category, with other job descriptions even describing it as "a whole new smart home product." Based on the latter description, Amazon was indeed pursuing the idea of space-based glasses-free AR, which includes the use of projectors, cameras and other sensors.
It is worth mentioning that Amazon set up a Future Design business group dedicated to "helping Amazon feel the future of life" in March this year, and Kharis O'Connell, who was the designer of THE AR headset vendor Meta View and helped Google design the AR operating system, was the leader.
All of this recruitment moves and project establishments are hinting that Amazon is quietly developing "new world" AR products. For Amazon, which has already released numerous smart home products such as the Echo smart speaker and the home robot Astro, the company may want to further refine its all-smart home vision.