Tobii and Prophesee develop important new eye-tracking technology

Tobii, the Swedish eye-tracking technology leader, whose solutions are used in devices like HTC Vive Pro Eye, PlayStation VR2, Pimax Crystal, and Play for Dream MR, has partnered with Paris-based startup Prophesee, which develops event-based sensors. Unlike traditional image sensors that capture full frames at fixed intervals, event-based sensors only register changes in the image, such as brightness variations at individual pixels, mimicking the retina's function. This approach offers high energy and data efficiency, precise detection, and extremely low latency. Prophesee reports a sampling rate of over 1000 Hz, an end-to-end latency of under 1 ms, detection accuracy of less than 1 degree, power consumption under 2 mW, and data rates five times lower than image-based sensors. Most existing eye-tracking solutions rely on infrared light and classical image sensors, which lag behind in energy efficiency, latency, and data volume. The collaboration aims to bring this technology to market, which is welcome news for the VR/AR industry, as standalone VR headsets, smart glasses, and AR glasses need more efficient eye tracking. Prophesee had previously worked with Zinn Labs on an event-based solution for such devices. Emma Bauer, Senior Vice President of Integrations at Tobii, highlighted that smart glasses are one of the most demanding segments for eye tracking, requiring extremely low power consumption, high performance, and seamless integration, and the partnership adds event-based sensors to Tobii's existing camera technologies, offering customers more options and flexibility.