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Google will be testing Project Starline booths at some of its corporate partners.
These days, video calls aren’t just a convenient way to chat with grandma, they’ve become a vital linchpin in the growing remote work environment. Both in the home and the office, video calls have served as a convenient way to hold a meeting without needing to fly everyone all over the place. To develop this paradigm, Google has been working on Project Starline, a line of video call booths that render the participants as realistic 3D holograms.
According to Google, Starline booths are advanced enough to render a hologram that looks like a living, breathing person is sitting right in front of you. They’ve been testing this tech out in their own offices, and are planning on branching out. Google is planning to install Starline booths on a trial basis in the offices of several of their corporate partners, including Salesforce, WeWork, T-Mobile and Hackensack Meridian Health.
“As we build the future of hybrid work together with our enterprise partners, we look forward to seeing how Project Starline can help employees form strong ties with one another, doctors form meaningful bonds with their patients, and salespeople make deeper connections with their clients and customers,” the company said in its announcement.
It might not be long before you're attending a virtual work meeting with lifelike, 3D representations of your colleagues. https://t.co/eIGCc35JGJ
— NBC 7 San Diego (@nbcsandiego) October 17, 2022
The precise scale of Google’s goals for Starline is not known, but if they could perfect the tech, it would be a handy way to include remote workers in meetings in an office setting. It’s also not known if they want to go for a consumer model, but it would be an impressive improvement on existing video call tech if they do.
