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By Katie Paul
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Meta (NASDAQ:)’s head of augmented actuality software program is stepping down from his position, an organization spokesperson informed Reuters on Friday, elevating questions in regards to the firm’s progress in growing a customized working system for its deliberate AR glasses.
VP of Engineering Don Field introduced the tip of his tenure at Meta internally this week, with out elaborating on what he would do subsequent, in response to a supply conversant in the matter.
A Meta spokesperson confirmed Field can be leaving the corporate on the finish of this week and stated he was doing so for private causes. There can be no change in product roadmap because of his choice, she added.
Field didn’t reply to requests for remark.
The departure of Field, a veteran engineer with expertise constructing main know-how methods from their infancy, could possibly be a setback to progress on the working system, a key element of Meta’s AR glasses undertaking, the supply informed Reuters.
Meta has been planning to ship a primary technology of its AR glasses by subsequent yr, though these are meant for use solely internally and by a choose group of builders, the supply stated. It goals to ship its first AR glasses to customers in 2027.
The Meta spokesperson declined to deal with the roadmap or whether or not the OS that Field’s staff was constructing can be within the first technology AR glasses.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has described AR glasses as a form of magnum opus as he works to construct {hardware} that may present entry to an immersive digital “metaverse” and change laptops and cell gadgets.
The top of the corporate’s metaverse-oriented Actuality Labs division, CTO Andrew Bosworth, stated just lately that Meta was nonetheless dealing with “quite a few challenges” in constructing an AR product that it might deliver to market and that “those things are still a few years away – a few, to put it lightly.”
The corporate has additionally struggled to construct customized silicon for its AR/VR merchandise and laid off some staff in its Actuality Labs customized silicon unit FAST final month.
Meta initially employed Field in 2021 to chart a path ahead after the failure of its XROS undertaking, which aimed to create a unified customized working system for its digital actuality headsets, Ray-Ban Tales good glasses and deliberate augmented actuality glasses, the supply stated.
Field broke up the 300-person XROS unit into devoted groups for every gadget line early final yr and personally took over the staff centered on AR software program, in response to each the supply and Field’s LinkedIn profile.
Previous to becoming a member of Meta, Field had labored at Microsoft (NASDAQ:) since 2002. In his ultimate position at Microsoft, he ran engineering for blended actuality, which concerned growing software program for the HoloLens2 headset and associated AR/VR providers.
Field is thought for having led the creation of the Xbox One working system and later heading Microsoft’s core working system group, which works throughout all Home windows merchandise.
