Meta's Don Box, Head of its Augmented Reality Software and Vice President of Engineering, has internally announced his resignation, per a Reuters report. This has led to questions regarding Meta's planned augmented reality glasses' custom operating system.
The now-former VP of Meta announced he would be stepping down "without elaborating on what he would do next," as per the report.
Reuters reports that a Meta representative revealed that Box will depart the company at the end of this week for personal reasons. The representative went on to say that Box's choice would not affect the product strategy.
The Meta representative declined to comment on the roadmap or if the OS being developed by Box's team will be included in the first-generation AR glasses.
BNN reports that the first generation of these AR glasses, intended for internal usage and chosen developers, will be available next year. Meta hopes to release a consumer version by 2027.
Meta's Augmented Reality Glasses
CTO Andrew Bosworth, leader of the company's metaverse-focused Reality Labs division, recently stated that Meta was still experiencing "quite a few challenges" in developing an AR device that could be brought to market and that "those things are still a few years away - a few, to put it lightly."
In addition, the corporation has struggled to produce custom silicon for its AR/VR devices, and last month, it laid off several people in its Reality Labs custom silicon business FAST.
The recent layoffs were also reported by a separate Reuters report that could jeopardize Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg's project to develop augmented and virtual reality products that allow access to a set of immersive virtual worlds known as the "metaverse," particularly the AR glasses that he has predicted "will redefine our relationship with technology."
As Zuckerberg seeks to produce technology that may enable access to an immersive virtual "metaverse" and replace computers and mobile devices, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has described AR glasses as a magnum opus.
Don Box, Meta's Former AR Head
According to the source, Meta first recruited Box in 2021 to map a course ahead following the loss of its XROS project, which attempted to develop a single proprietary operating system for its virtual reality headsets, Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses, and planned augmented reality glasses.
Meta announced a new generation of Ray-Ban Meta Smart glasses in September, with an improved audio, camera, faster processor, integrated AI assistant, and an overall better build.
According to both the source and Box's LinkedIn page, Box divided the 300-person XROS unit into specialized teams for each device line early last year and personally took over the team focusing on AR software.
Box had been with Microsoft since 2002 before joining Meta. In his final position at Microsoft, he oversaw mixed reality engineering, which included creating software for the HoloLens2 headgear and related AR/VR services.
