Meta AR Glasses Progress; Apple Delays AR Headset to 2023; Bosch Snaps Up Automated Driving Startup; Musk Hit With Class Action over Twitter Buy

Despite delays and the lack of a wearable, working model, Meta is racing the clock to have Augmented Reality glasses on user faces by 2024…and a lighter more advanced version by 2026, THEN a third gen set by 2028. Theverge.com reports that the driving force is Mark Zuckerberg, who envisions AR glasses as something of a Facebook ‘iPhone moment’. Meta’s CEO also sees the devices as a way to get out from under the thumbs of Apple and Google. The AR push is called Project Nazare. They are projecting initial sales of AR headsets to be in the tens of thousands, but are shooting for the tens of millions by the end of the decade. It remains to be seen if a gadget that will no doubt sell for at least a couple thousand will hit those numbers, but thousand dollar phones are pretty common, so who knows?

On the topic of one of the above mentioned companies with heavy thumbs for Meta…namely, Apple….it appears that their mixed reality headset will not be appearing too soon. 9to5mac.com notes that both Ming-Chi Kuo and Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman have suggested the AR set would be out by late 2022, but a report from analyst Jeff Pu of Haitong International Securities says that the product may be delayed until the 1st quarter of 2023. It will run on an in-house designed chip, have 10 sensors, and an ‘innovative three-display configuration.’ Rumors are pointing to a wallet-crushing price of up to $3000. Apple thinks it will be able to sell a million to 1.5 million the first year. 

You may not be familiar with Robert Bosch, but if you have owned or driven a European car, you probably have been in a vehicle that uses their parts. Bosch has made fuel injection pumps and electronics for Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche, Audi, VW, and others. Now, zdnet.com says they have picked up automated driving startup Five. Bosch plans to fold Five into its already established autonomous driving project. Bosch had recently picked up digital maps firm Atlatec, and has deals with Baidu, AutoNavi, and NavInfo to develop ‘high-precision maps.’

Its not the first time Elon Musk has gotten crosswise with the SEC over stock disclosures, but now, a class action has been filed over his late disclosure of his Twitter stock acquisition. Engadget.com reports that a Twitter shareholder has filed the suit over Musk’s 11 day delay in reporting his buy to the SEC. Under securities law, Musk was required to file paperwork with the SEC by March 24th — 10 days after his stake in Twitter grew to 5 percent — but he didn’t do so until April 4th. That delay might not sound particularly significant, but it may have netted him as much as $156 million. According to the lawsuit, those gains came at the expense of other shareholders, who were not able to similarly profit. The suit alleges that shareholders were damaged by his delay, as it ‘artificially deflated’ prices. Of course, Musk has previously laughed to fines of millions, as he is worth over $200 billion…but the time it will take to mount a defense to this case and perhaps go to court will likely have more of an effect on him than any fine could.