Mozilla to focus on ‘mixed reality’

Mozilla is going to set up a ‘mixed reality’ development program. The organization wants to ensure that headsets, frameworks and tools work together so that web developers can more easily create vr and ar applications.

According to Mozilla, virtual reality for the web is going well, thanks to WebVR, among others, which is now supported by Firefox, Edge, the GearVR, and frameworks such as A-Frame and ReactVR. “Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of augmented reality,” Mozilla said.

According to the organization, there is no way to create a single web page that can tap into the possibilities of both VR glasses and ar variants such as the HoloLens and smartphones with ARKit and ARCore. Mozilla’s Mixed Reality program aims to change this with specifications, browser implementations and services that work together.

Mozilla has made a first move towards a WebXR API for browsers. It extends WebVR capabilities with augmented reality features, such as the different ways in which the user’s environment is mapped. The organization has developed a WebXR Viewer for iOS that deploys ARKit for web pages that use the api. Support for other platforms will follow in the future.

In addition, Mozilla is expanding the mixed reality support of its browsers. For example, Firefox for the desktop can now handle Meta’s ar headset and there will be a mobile browser with the option of mixing 3D images with the camera images. This Mozilla bases on its Servo project.