Qualcomm integrates Tobii's eye-tracking in Snapdragon 845 VR headsets

Tobii, the eye-tracking hardware company has partnered with Qualcomm to make eye-tracking technology available in Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 VR headsets.

Tobii president, Oscar Werner said, "Increased interest in the untethered, mobile VR segment in conjunction with Qualcomm’s innovation and technology leadership in this space, further strengthens our excitement about the potential of this market opportunity for Tobii eye tracking. At its core, eye tracking fundamentally enables hardware manufacturers to build smarter and more capable devices with greater mobility, that in turn deliver truly immersive and natural experiences to delight users.”

How about some exciting news to start the day? 🌞 We're collaborating with @Qualcomm to bring Eye Tracking to Mobile #VR #AR Headsets. Read all about it here https://t.co/MXYWFyGxkV

— Tobii Gaming 🔥 (@tobiigaming) March 15, 2018

As part of the agreement, Tobii and Qualcomm will create a full reference design and development kit for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 Mobile VR Platform, which includes Tobii's EyeCore eye tracking algorithms and hardware design. Tobii will license its eye-tracking technologies and system and collaborate with HMD manufacturers on the optical solution for the reference design.

The highlight of Tobii's eye-tracking technology is foveated rendering. The technology will track eye movement to provide high-resolution graphics at the point of focus in real time. In using such a feature, manufacturers can make their mobile VR headsets more efficient – which can, in turn, reduce costs for end-users – while at the same equipping them with higher resolution displays.

Other features include interpupillary distance and interactive eye contact. Tobii's eye-tracking technology will allow for eye contact in virtual reality world. The firm also notes that eye tracking can give users a true-to-form sense of hand-eye coordination within virtual reality apps and games.

Tobii noted that implementing eye-tracking properly will result in both a better VR/AR device and a better end-user experience.