What you need to know
- Google wants to enhance the video conferencing experience by integrating Project Starline with popular platforms like Google Meet and Zoom.
- Teaming up with HP, Google plans to launch its 3D video call platform in 2025.
- Project Starline introduces a teleconferencing solution that projects lifelike 3D models of participants, replicating gestures and expressions, thus simulating an in-person experience.
Google is working on bringing its Project Starline solution to everyday platforms like Google Meet and Zoom for a more lifelike video conferencing experience.
The company announced that it is partnering with HP to bring the 3D video call platform to market in 2025. Plus, it is working on making it compatible with your favorite video conferencing services so you can ditch the flat screen.
In 2021, Google started working on Project Starline, a teleconferencing setup where you see a 3D model of the person you're talking to, complete with all their gestures and expressions, making it feel like you're actually in the same room. It's designed for businesses for now, but it's definitely a glimpse into the future of video chat.
At last year's I/O conference, Google revealed a prototype that's way smaller and sleeker compared to the original bulky booth-like design. Instead of a booth, the new version is more like a digital whiteboard. It's got just a few cameras around the screen, but it used AI to work out the depth, giving it that 3D feel.
After years of tinkering, Google is finally bringing Project Starline out of the lab and into the real world.
Google mentioned that after clocking in thousands of hours of testing across Google offices and with business partners, it discovered that meetings in Starline feel more like being physically together than just your usual video calls.
The Mountain View-based company points out that this results in people paying better attention, remembering things easier, and feeling more like they're in the same room, not miles apart. In Starline, folks behave as if they're right there in the same room, not separated by thousands of miles, according to the company.
No pricing details are available yet, but it's likely that bigger companies with the cash and room to spare will be the first to dive in. Google has promised to make Project Starline cheaper and easier to get hold of eventually, but for now, it's not really meant for personal use.
