Tesla hires HoloLens designer from Microsoft augmented reality program • Hacker News Board

Re: Tesla hires HoloLens designer from Microsoft augmented reality program

#31

Post by gchadwick » Fri, Nov 25, 2016, 10:22 AM UTC

micaksica wrote: post #16

Everyone here is focused on what this means for Tesla, but this may be intelligence on what is going on with the Microsoft HoloLens program if senior staff is beginning to jump ship. What's going to happen with HoloLens? The team doesn't appear to be very large, and it's been stuck in research-land for a while now.

It could just mean Tesla is good at making irresistable offers? MS may be sufficiently confident in the current team to not worry about making counter-offers to keep hold of some members.

Re: Tesla hires HoloLens designer from Microsoft augmented reality program

#32

Post by otalp » Fri, Nov 25, 2016, 10:24 AM UTC

pawadu wrote: post #21

miloshadzic wrote: post #19

He also worked on the Xbox One S and is pretty much the most interesting product designer around now. Microsoft should have kept him.

I don't know about that. Was he part of the Surface team? If not, I think Microsoft can afford to loose him.

He used to have a pretty popular blog, and he got hired at Microsoft after this: http://www.minimallyminimal.com/2012/7/3/the-next-microsoft....

If you want to see his design process applied to a car, there's this: http://www.minimallyminimal.com/2012/7/22/toyota-doko.html

Both were personal projects done in his spare time as far as I know.

Re: Tesla hires HoloLens designer from Microsoft augmented reality program

#33

Post by raphman » Fri, Nov 25, 2016, 10:27 AM UTC

micaksica wrote: post #16

Everyone here is focused on what this means for Tesla, but this may be intelligence on what is going on with the Microsoft HoloLens program if senior staff is beginning to jump ship. What's going to happen with HoloLens? The team doesn't appear to be very large, and it's been stuck in research-land for a while now.

Furthermore, several researchers from MSR working on HoloLens have left Microsoft and founded a startup around HoloLens this year: http://perceptiveio.com/team/

I'm not sure whether this is a sign of Microsoft abandoning HoloLens, or whether they are building an ecosystem of developers and integrators around HoloLens.

Re: Tesla hires HoloLens designer from Microsoft augmented reality program

#34

Post by kriro » Fri, Nov 25, 2016, 10:30 AM UTC

micaksica wrote: post #16

Everyone here is focused on what this means for Tesla, but this may be intelligence on what is going on with the Microsoft HoloLens program if senior staff is beginning to jump ship. What's going to happen with HoloLens? The team doesn't appear to be very large, and it's been stuck in research-land for a while now.

I'd actually see it as validation of the technology they are working on. Hurts to lose people but Microsoft can refill research positions fairly well (anecdotally).

Re: Tesla hires HoloLens designer from Microsoft augmented reality program

#35

Post by vidarh » Fri, Nov 25, 2016, 10:41 AM UTC

elihu wrote: post #4

> But nonetheless, Tesla has been rumored to be working on an augmented reality system in the form of a heads-up display for the Model 3. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been referring to the interior controls of the vehicle as “spaceship-like” and the prototypes unveiled earlier this year didn’t feature any instrument cluster. That's reassuring. One of the things about the model 3 that bothered me was that there was only on…

> so that the driver can "see through" the car without obstruction.

I'm not convinced we'll get there before drivers disappear.

Re: Tesla hires HoloLens designer from Microsoft augmented reality program

#36

Post by taneq » Fri, Nov 25, 2016, 12:10 PM UTC

elihu wrote: post #4

> But nonetheless, Tesla has been rumored to be working on an augmented reality system in the form of a heads-up display for the Model 3. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been referring to the interior controls of the vehicle as “spaceship-like” and the prototypes unveiled earlier this year didn’t feature any instrument cluster. That's reassuring. One of the things about the model 3 that bothered me was that there was only on…

I seem to recall reading about one of the German marques prototyping a system that used AR to project camera imagery onto the A-pillars to make them "see-through". It was a pretty cool effect.

Re: Tesla hires HoloLens designer from Microsoft augmented reality program

#37

Post by lloeki » Fri, Nov 25, 2016, 12:26 PM UTC

elihu wrote: post #4

> But nonetheless, Tesla has been rumored to be working on an augmented reality system in the form of a heads-up display for the Model 3. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been referring to the interior controls of the vehicle as “spaceship-like” and the prototypes unveiled earlier this year didn’t feature any instrument cluster. That's reassuring. One of the things about the model 3 that bothered me was that there was only on…

> so that the driver can "see through" the car without obstruction.

I'd rather have the driver "see through" the environment than the car, resembling something I long wished cars would have something to the effect of this HUD[0] from GR:AW, where the road boundaries would be delimited and highlighted, the car projected trajectory and braking/safety distance markers, as well as other vehicles and pedestrians being pinpointed, or even outlined through fog/night/objects. Obviously, nav waypoints and path-to-take trail too, and why not an indicator not too dissimilar to Forza's braking lines helper[0] that goes red when you're going too fast.

[0]: http://www.gamesxtreme.com/content/media/screenshots/13/01/1...

[1]: https://shinynewcartridge.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/forza_...

Re: Tesla hires HoloLens designer from Microsoft augmented reality program

#38

Post by bardworx » Fri, Nov 25, 2016, 1:07 PM UTC

ArmandGrillet wrote: post #10

I hope this means that we will have new posts on Andrew's blog (Minimally Minimal). Microsoft asked him to remove nearly all of his new posts related to design thus some of his last articles (e.g. about the Xbox One S) have been online only for a week or so.

It's been wild following Andrew for so long. What's really interesting about him is that his blog gained recognition quite early and he was already featured on HN[0] before graduating college. Watching his growth has been fascinating as readers of his blog "grew up" with him.

[0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5085915

Re: Tesla hires HoloLens designer from Microsoft augmented reality program

#39

Post by monk_e_boy » Fri, Nov 25, 2016, 2:04 PM UTC

lloeki wrote: post #37

elihu wrote: post #4

> But nonetheless, Tesla has been rumored to be working on an augmented reality system in the form of a heads-up display for the Model 3. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been referring to the interior controls of the vehicle as “spaceship-like” and the prototypes unveiled earlier this year didn’t feature any instrument cluster. That's reassuring. One of the things about the model 3 that bothered me was that there was only on…

> so that the driver can "see through" the car without obstruction. I'd rather have the driver "see through" the environment than the car, resembling something I long wished cars would have something to the effect of this HUD[0] from GR:AW, where the road boundaries would be delimited and highlighted, the car projected trajectory and braking/safety distance markers, as well as other vehicles and pedestrians being pin…

I think by the time that technology is available to the driver, you may as well add the final 10% (the AI) which just drives the car for you.

Re: Tesla hires HoloLens designer from Microsoft augmented reality program

#40

Post by monk_e_boy » Fri, Nov 25, 2016, 2:12 PM UTC

xarball wrote: post #26

I need to play devil's advocate here -- and hoping everyone will stop and think about this in a more practical way for a minute. This has less to do with VR/AR, and more to do with pre-existing overlap: o What if Tesla is interested in improving sensory accuracy for its self-driving vehicle program? o What if Tesla is interested in Hololens' pixel greying on transparent surfaces? This seems like the most viable use o…

My guess is two things:

1. Factory. Highly customised cars will require a very flexible workforce. Much easier to do by equipping each worker with a hololens

2. Inside the car - turn all the flat surfaces into displays. No headmounting glasses needed. In a driverless car those big windows are ideal for projecting things onto.