Google acquires eye-tracking startup, Eyefluence

Google has acquired eye-tracking interface platform, Eyefluence. The VR-AR based startup announced this quietly in its blog post,

“Today, we are excited to announce that the Eyefluence team is joining Google! With our forces combined, we will continue to advance eye-interaction technology to expand human potential and empathy on an even larger scale. We look forward to the life-changing innovations we’ll create together!”

Eyefluence, that was founded in 2013 by Jim Marggraff has developed a suite of technologies for tracking eye behavior for virtual reality and augmented reality applications. It enables users wearing head-mounted virtual reality or augmented glasses to use their eyes as a mouse and making selections only with their eye movements.

Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed, neither are any details about how the company will now operate or whether employees will be merged with Google's own research teams. The search engine company has also not delved into how its plans to incorporate Eyefluence into the company’s broader portfolio of products, services, and features.

Noticeably, Google’s acquisition of Eyefluence signals continuing interest by the search giant in augmented reality and virtual reality applications. The move may telegraph future strategy in its newly-launched Pixel phone line, which currently has VR capabilities enabled by the Daydream VR headset.