Tech giants race to tap gesture recognition market

LG, Google, and Apple are participants in a race to bring smartphones and other devices to market with touchless human-machine interfaces (HMIs) based on gesture recognition, in addition to voice control, EE Times India reports.

Products with voice activation and control, such as NXP Semiconductors microcontroller with integrated Alexa Voice Service, received a lot of attention at Embedded World 2019 in February, according to the report. Touchless control received less attention at Mobile World Congress this year, but LG launched its G8 ThinQ smartphone with Time-of-Flight-based Air Motion gesture recognition at MWC Barcelona, giving it a lead in the race for gesture recognition market share.

EE Times India notes that Research and Markets estimates the touchless gesture recognition market will be worth $30.6 billion by 2025, and recently published patent applications from Apple indicate the 3D imaging capabilities powering facial recognition will also be applied to gesture recognition in the company’s future products.

Google, meanwhile, was recently granted a patent for its radar-based touchless gesture recognition, its second patent in the area. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) also granted Google a waiver to use its short-range interactive motion sensing in the 57-64 GHz band, which EE Times reports allows it to operate at higher power levels. Google developed its Soli motion tracking chip in collaboration with Infineon, which integrates the entire sensor and antenna array.

Gesture recognition is also expected to be significantly deployed in the automotive market, with a forecasted market segment value of $13 billion by 2024.

Article Topics

automotive biometrics  |  biometrics  |  gesture recognition  |  microcontroller  |  smartphones  |  voice recognition