ZEISS has acquired the shares of the joint venture tooz technologies, which was founded together with Deutsche Telekom in 2018. The founding partners had held 50% of the shares in the startup, which develops high-tech optics in the area of augmented reality. At the ZEISS Group’s AR/VR competence center, tooz will further drive the development and integration of optics for AR products completely independently, Zeiss said. In the future, tooz will also equip optical systems from other manufacturers of AR/VR optics with prescription lenses to place products with an integrated prescription on the global markets. ZEISS has assumed full ownership of AR/VR company tooz. The company released its ESSNZ Berlin ophthalmic smart glasses product in May 2022. Courtesy of tooz. At SPIE Photonics West earlier this year, tooz showcased its ESSNZ Berlin smart glasses reference design with seamless integration of prescription. The curved waveguide lens in the ophthalmic wearable features several free-form surfaces and an invisible combiner to guide light from the monochromatic microLED display in the right temple to the wearer’s eye. This allows the user to see a virtual image in its field of view that provides valuable information. The curved waveguide allows for seamless integration of vision correction. Tooz launched the product in May 2022.
