“2026 will be the year of true AR glasses!”

For a long time, true AR glasses were considered heavy, power-hungry, and technically immature. Mario Spiegl, CEO of TriLite, is convinced that this is about to change. In an interview with Markt&Technik, he explains why TriLite’s laser beam scanning technology is the key.

Markt&Technik: In recent years, momentum around AR glasses seemed to slow down somewhat. These devices overlay virtual images to provide contextual information - for example, navigation guidance. Now 2026 is expected to mark a breakthrough. Why?

Mario Spiegl: Ultimately, it comes down to visual information. Only when this information is displayed directly in AR glasses can users access everything they already know from smartphones - without needing to hold and interact with a device. They keep their hands free, interact via voice and gestures, and remain focused on their environment. Information is delivered contextually, without interrupting the task at hand.

AR glasses with visual overlays have so far failed to achieve broad market adoption. High power consumption, limited battery life and bulky form factors result in heavy, uncomfortable devices, while image quality remains limited. Consumers have not been convinced. Meta has reacted accordingly. Are major players scaling back efforts?

Not at all - even if it may appear that way. Consumers are right in their current assessment: existing solutions have not met expectations. Quite simply, the required technology was not available until recently. I would agree that earlier approaches were not compelling.

Would you say the perception that AR glasses have reached a dead end is incorrect?

Yes. All major players - Apple, Google, Meta - as well as startups continue to invest heavily. At CES in January, several companies presented new developments that are expected to reach the market this year.

However, none of these devices rely on laser beam scanning technology, which TriLite has been advancing for many years. Is that a disappointment for you?

Not at all. Our LBS approach enables very compact form factors, low power consumption, high resolution and a wide field of view - delivering high image quality at competitive manufacturing cost. In addition, the technology is highly scalable and adaptable across markets. This scalability will be a decisive factor for commercialization.

Current devices seem to rely on LCoS and microLED. Laser-based approaches have yet to appear...

...this year will demonstrate one thing clearly: the consumer AR market is starting to scale. Yole forecasts around 15 million smart glasses annually by 2030 - even that is conservative. At the same time, I am convinced that LCoS and microLED are transitional technologies. The combination of efficiency, scalability and system-level integration offered by LBS is difficult to match. I am not alone in this view: in November last year, a new working group, “Laser Display for AR”, was established within the AR Alliance, and TriLite is part of it. The group is chaired by Barry Silverstein, formerly of Meta Reality Labs and now at the University of Rochester.

The objective is to bring together partners from academia and industry to build an ecosystem around laser-based AR systems. Through collaboration, technical barriers can be addressed, commercialization accelerated, and at the same time risks reduced and costs lowered.

According to Silverstein, size, weight and power consumption are key advantages of laser-based approaches. He also expects that companies such as Google/Magic Leap and Samsung, which currently rely on other technologies, will move in this direction. Meta, in any case, is already a strong advocate of laser-based display technologies.

If the market scales, will TriLite scale with it?

I am confident we will. At CES, we introduced the “Trixel® 3” - a projection display with a volume of around 1 cm³ - the world’s smallest of its kind. It is suitable for AR glasses as well as automotive applications such as panoramic HUDs. Its compact size allows integration close to the waveguide, which simplifies optical design. A key differentiator is its software-defined architecture. Our proprietary control algorithms - including color alignment and calibration - are central to performance. We combine this with automated end-of-line calibration, enabling wider manufacturing tolerances, resulting in high yield and lower cost. “Design for manufacturability” is critical. Our partners can produce Trixel® modules on standard equipment, supporting scalable, cost-efficient production. Compared to LBS, microLED and LCoS remain constrained in brightness, form factor, field of view and scalability. These parameters are critical for AR glasses and for OEM differentiation.

Does that mean the “Trixel® 3 Cube” should already be seeing strong demand?

Interest from AR OEMs is high. We expect to start pre-series production for the consumer market by the end of this year. Future product generations beyond 2026 will increasingly adopt LBS-based projection. 

You mentioned the automotive market earlier. Will TriLite increasingly focus on this segment?

Consumer remains the primary growth driver. However, automotive is developing rapidly, and we are actively addressing it, including automotive qualification of our platform. Trixel® modules are well suited for applications such as panoramic HUDs and projection systems. High-quality panoramic displays can be implemented using multiple projectors. In the long term, I expect that both markets - consumer and automotive - will each contribute around half of our revenue.

But that also means investing resources and time once again into developing a new system for a market where it takes years to generate significant revenue. Is that even feasible for the startup TriLite, with around 50 employees?

The automotive market operates differently from the consumer market; automotive companies are willing to pay for industrialization. They do this through joint customer engineering projects.  What is particularly important for us is that the “Cube” platform and the automotive platform share a strong technological foundation; we don’t have to start from scratch—rather, these are different derivatives, and we can leverage many synergies on both the hardware and software sides. Customers can be confident that they are receiving products that will remain scalable in the future. In the automotive sector, the 80-lm LBS projectors are just the beginning, and the “Trixel” platform is also undergoing continuous development and will not stop at “Trixel 3.”

In which areas will the products of the second platform be used in cars?

HUD displays are very important to automotive manufacturers. With the help of our new LBS projectors, they can significantly reduce their size— we expect significant activity in this area in the near term. For example, panoramic HUDs are already in use today; these have a larger display area than conventional HUDs and can display more information across the entire field of view. We can significantly improve them even further with our system. We can even overlay images from the camera system.

The applications for ground projection will also grow, as there are many possible uses for this technology. It starts with a welcome message projected onto the ground in front of the car doors. However, the projector can also be integrated into the rear bumper to warn pedestrians when the car is backing out of a parking space. Many similar applications will emerge: this allows the car to communicate with pedestrians, which contributes to safety. If the projectors are integrated into the headliner, the side windows effectively become display surfaces, which could be used, for example, as advertising spaces. Or taxis could signal: “Hello, Mr. Meier, I’m the car you ordered!” There are many possibilities here; I expect that entirely new services and markets will emerge.

When will such systems make their way into cars?

For us, the market for panoramic HUDs is expected to launch in the first half of 2027. Systems for ground projection and projection onto windows could then follow in early 2028.

You mentioned additional markets?

We have identified a third major market that is also growing. We call it “Enhanced Optics.” This includes the healthcare sector: for example, virtual images can provide guidance to surgical teams. Dual-use products are another sector, as are systems for law enforcement or defense.  Certain applications in the sports sector are also included. I could imagine that golfers would be eager to use systems that serve as rangefinders. That could certainly lead to significant sales volumes. In the “Enhanced Optics” market, there will undoubtedly be many developments that we haven’t even considered yet.

Are investors also optimistic about the direction TriLite has taken?

Yes, because they are convinced that our technical breakthroughs - the world’s smallest LBS projector and a new platform for LBS projectors capable of 80 lm and more - will soon be incorporated into products that consumers and automotive customers will value, leading to rapidly growing sales for TriLite. We have built an ecosystem in which we can source all the components we need to realize the entire system. Companies that control all key elements required to build LBS systems are in a strong position to scale. We have them, and certainly not many companies worldwide can claim the same. Our latest funding round included strategic investors who have attested to our technology’s excellent prospects for both the consumer and automotive markets. These investors understand exactly what’s at stake—and that makes us proud. Financial investors were also represented in the Series A funding round. This has secured a total of 20 million euros for TriLite. We are already preparing another funding round, which is planned for the summer.

The interview was conducted by Heinz Arnold