Sundar Pichai's birthday: A look back on the year he had and what's next

On the eve of Republic Day, Sundar Pichai was named as one of the recipients of Padma Bhushan -- India's third highest civilian honour. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella joined him as an honoree in the “trade and industry” category.

Google's augmented reality push 

In March 2022, Google acquired Raxium, a startup working to develop microLED display technologies for augmented reality headsets and wearables.

"Raxium has spent five years creating miniaturized, cost-effective and energy efficient high-resolution displays that have laid the foundation for future display technologies," Google had said while announcing the deal. "Raxium’s technical expertise in this area will play a key role as we continue to invest in our hardware efforts."

Immersive maps

As an answer to Google's Apple Maps, Google in May unveiled its plans to combine street view and aerial imagery using AI to offer viewers a more immersive view of the world.

The company announced that updates providing enhanced viewing would come to Google Maps soon.

"Our investments in AI have supercharged the ability to bring you the most helpful information about the real world," Google had said.

Pichai had told Bloomberg last year that the concept of immersive computing excited him. "This doesn’t belong to any company. This is the evolution of the internet," he had said.

What's next for Google under Pichai 

Pichai had said in Google's earnings conference call in February, 2022 that the company was certainly looking at blockchain technology.

"It’s such an interesting and powerful technology with broad applications," he had said. “Any time there is innovation, I find it exciting, I think it’s something we want to support the best we can."