Facebook continues to expand in Zurich

The tech giant Facebook is having research done in Zurich on the next generation of virtual reality glasses, because this is where the experts are. The focus is on inside-out tracking.

At the F8 developer conference, Mark Zuckerberg took the opportunity to present his latest product himself: the Oculus Go virtual reality headset. Inexpensive, without cables, stylish. This is how the virtual world is to be made palatable to the masses.

The only problem with Zuckerberg's latest device is that you can't walk around autonomously in reality with it. The headset is still not aware enough of its surroundings. So it still lacks smart inside-out tracking. But Zuckerberg is working on it and is expanding the Zurich location considerably. New offices, larger teams and a planned cooperation with the ETH: Zurich is becoming increasingly important for Facebook. The core technology for the next Oculus glasses is being developed here. The project is called Santa Cruz.

Zurich goes high-tech

Facebook's presence in Zurich began almost two years ago when it moved into the office rental company Regus in Zurich's Bahnhofstrasse and took over premises that had previously been used by Apple. However, like Apple, Facebook only used the premises as a temporary solution before its next expansion step. A few months ago, the Facebook researchers moved to the south of the city into much larger offices near the Sihlcity shopping centre, where other companies from the same high-tech sector have already taken up residence.

What attracted Facebook to Zurich was the great expertise, especially at ETH, in computer vision, i.e. technologies that enable computers and devices to perceive their environment and orient themselves within it. This is exactly what the social media company needed after Zuckerberg decided to invest in virtual and mixed reality in 2014 and subsequently took over and integrated the formerly independent industry leader Oculus.

A spokesperson says in general terms, "Oculus has a small but mighty research team in Zurich that is helping to realise the future of virtual reality. As part of the computer vision community in Europe, we work closely with the world-class teams at ETH and the University of Zurich and are always looking for the best talent to break new ground with us."

Source: Handelszeitung