Qualcomm and Tobii team up on eye tracking for VR

Qualcomm and Tobii have partnered in eye tracking for virtual reality. The two companies will offer a reference platform for VR glasses with eye tracking.

The intent is to design Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 Mobile VR Platform, announced last month, with Tobii’s EyeCore sensors and asic integrated into it. Qualcomm’s reference example of standalone VR glasses with the Snapdragon 845-soc should also be able to handle Tobii’s eye tracking software. Manufacturers can base their standalone VR glasses on this reference design.

The addition of eye tracking enables foveated rendering, where the glasses can prioritize the part of the image that the eyes of the VR glasses wearer are focusing on. In addition, the distance between the pupils can be measured with eye tracking, to which the display can adapt. Furthermore, Tobii mentions advantages in the field of eye-hand coordination and the possibility of eye contact in virtual reality. Tobii has been trying to make eye tracking commonplace for years, among other things by focusing on applications for gaming.