Google backs Project Tango with warm words, shifts it from ATAP to new home

Google has reaffirmed its commitment to Project Tango, announcing over the weekend its move from the Advanced Technology and Projects Group (ATAP) to a new home inside the company itself.

For those not in the know, Project Tango, which was unveiled early last year, is focused on incorporating powerful 3D-mapping technology into mobile devices. The system is able to make more than a quarter of a million 3D measurements every second, and continuously updates the location and position of a device as it maps a 3D model of the surrounding environment.

ATAP is Google’s mobile-focused project development laboratory, and shifting Tango from there to a new base suggests Google is happy with the way the project is progressing and ready to take it to the next level.

A powerful tablet shown off by Google last June gave a select group of developers who’re working on Tango-related apps their first chance to test their work on a device incorporating the mapping tech. Important features of the 7-inch Tango tablet include two cameras inserted at an angle of 13 degrees for accurate 3D mapping, as well as a depth sensor on the back. The device is expected to launch for consumers some time this year.

In a Google+ post on Saturday, the company said that after two “fast-paced” years in ATAP, along with “many technical successes,” the Tango team would be “transitioning from ATAP to a new home within Google.” It added that it was “excited” about its continued commitment to the project while thanking developers for their input so far.

While Google’s positivity toward Tango certainly suggests the company is preparing to invest more time and money in the project, there is, of course, still no certainty of the technology’s long-term viability, a reality highlighted by Google’s recent apparent cooling toward Glass, another ambitious project born from one of its secretive innovation labs.

[Source: Google]