Project Astra joins Gemini arm as Google gears up for a public launch

Demoing Google Project Astra's vision capabilities at Google I/O 2024. (Image credit: Nicholas Sutrich / Android Central)

What you need to know

Google is moving the Project Gemini team from the Google DeepMind group to the Gemini app umbrella.
The Gemini app now has a new VP, as ex-Meta VP Chris Struhar will lead the group.
Project Astra is set to launch for Gemini Advanced subscribers on Pixel phones later this month.

Project Astra began as one of Google's more ambitious research projects when it was teased at Google I/O 2024 last year. Android Central tried it as part of a large demo setup, and the plan was always to scale that down to be able to run on Google Pixel phones. More recently, Project Astra has progressed, and Google is now planning to release it for Gemini Advanced subscribers on Pixel phones this month.

Ahead of that move, Google is making a few organizational changes for Project Astra, as announced internally today, March 6, and reported by 9to5Google. The team working on Project Astra will now be part of the larger Gemini app team, as Project Astra will soon be part of the multimodal Gemini Live. Previously, the group working on Project Astra was organized under Google DeepMind, the company's research sector working on Astra and other projects, like Project Mariner.

While 9to5Google reports some parts of the Project Astra team will remain with DeepMind, the bulk of the Astra group will now be organized under the Gemini app team. Additionally, the team has a new head, as Chris Struhar is now the Vice President of Product for the Gemini app.

The company announced the ex-Meta VP will lead the Gemini app in a corresponding move today. Struhar will be reporting to VP and General Manager Sissie Hsiao, who leads everything Gemini and Google Assistant related.

Google's Project Astra lets testers point their cameras at items within its app to receive information about it. — (Image credit: Google)

When it releases later this month, Astra will add new multimodal capabilities to Gemini Live. Users will be able to share their live video feed and share their screen to get more personalized responses in real time from Gemini Live.

The next steps for Project Astra will be getting it to run on wearable hardware, including AR and VR applications. Google asked for "trusted testers" to join a Project Astra waitlist to test this kind of functionality at the end of last year.

Brady is a tech journalist for Android Central, with a focus on news, phones, tablets, audio, wearables, and software. He has spent the last three years reporting and commenting on all things related to consumer technology for various publications. Brady graduated from St. John's University with a bachelor's degree in journalism. His work has been published in XDA, Android Police, Tech Advisor, iMore, Screen Rant, and Android Headlines. When he isn't experimenting with the latest tech, you can find Brady running or watching Big East basketball.