Warby Parker is getting in on the smart glasses craze.
On Tuesday, the digitally-native eyewear maker announced a partnership with Google to develop a line of âintelligent eyewear,â which is set to debut after 2025, although the company didnât give an official timeline. Warby Parker will couple its signature designs with Googleâs Android XR technology to create glasses with multimodal AI â which can process data across video, images, text and audio.
As part of the collaboration, Google will front as much as $75 million toward product development and bringing the goods to market, along with an additional investment in Warby Parker of up to $75 million.
The partnership comes as rival Ray-Ban has beefed up its partnership with Meta on a line of smart eyewear and even collaborated with high-fashion brands like Coperni. Last summer, it was reported that Meta is also considering buying a stake in Ray-Ban parent company EssilorLuxottica.
Learn more:
Eyewearâs Disruption by Smart Glasses May Have Already Begun
Meta is widely expected to unveil its first augmented-reality glasses this week, but itâs the companyâs more basic Ray-Ban glasses with EssilorLuxottica that could prove as â or more â pivotal to the rise of smart glasses.