2016 Google Tracker: Everything Google is working on for the new year

Android N, a big VR program, Google Glass, and lots more are in store for Alphabet.

It's that time of the year again—welcome to the Google Tracker! This is a bi-annual series where we recap every ongoing project (that we know about, at least) inside of Google's sprawling empire.

Though from now on, perhaps we should say, "Every ongoing project inside ofAlphabet's sprawling empire." "Google" is now a mere company inside of "Alphabet," the newly formed umbrella company created by Google's founders. Most of the Google side projects we've been tracking in the past have been spun off into companies inside of Alphabet, but rest assured we're still keeping track of everything.

As always, the Tracker is a big roundup of previous announcements, rumors, and a bit of speculation. The 2015 entries worked out well—the Chromecast 2, Google On, Google Photos, YouTube Gaming, and tons of Android features were represented. We can't promise everything listed here will be released in 2016, but this is certainly a running list of everything we've heard about. If you've been slacking all of 2015 and not paying attention to the news, consider this your "Google CliffsNotes" for the upcoming year.

Table of Contents

• The Alphabet Empire
• Rebrands for everyone?
• Android Everywhere
• Android merges with Chrome OS and takes on the PC market
• "Android Automotive"—Android's in-car operating system
• Android N and upcoming Android features
• A new messaging app—Goodbye Google Hangouts?
• Split Screen
• Rich Communications Services (RCS) Adoption
• Google Photos gets a video editor
• Google Play Podcasts
• Vulkan graphics API
• Android swaps Java implementations to OpenJDK
• Google sets your schedule for you with its "Timeful" acquisition
• Google Play comes to China
• Google's big push into virtual reality
• Google Processors—A "recommended hardware spec" for smartphone VR
• Google's Internet of Things Ecosystem
• Nest's mysterious audio product
• Google Glass is back from the dead
• YouTube wants to be Netflix
• Google's Self-Driving Cars seek a partner
• The "Replicant" robot division is in a tough spot
• Sidewalk Labs—Converting NYC's pay phones for the modern age
• Internet Access Projects
• Project Loon
• Project Titan
• A SpaceX satellite network
• Project Wing—Drone deliveries
• Makani—Flying wind turbines
• Calico—Death still isn't cured
• Verily—The new face for Google Life Sciences
• DeepMind—Google's artificial intelligence lab
• ATAP keeps building its crazy ideas
• Project Ara—an oft-delayed modular phone project
• Project Tango—A 3D computer vision smartphone, coming to consumers this summer
• Project Soli—Radar-sensed hand gesture for wearables
• Project Jacquard—Touch panels for textiles
• Project Abacus—Continuously calculated user authentication
• Project Vault—A secure computer on a MicroSD card
• The new Google campus—a visionary concept with nowhere to build
• Stay Tuned for 2016!

The Alphabet Empire

2015 saw Google transform from a single company packed with side projects into a Berkshire Hathaway-style "company full of companies" known as "Alphabet." So what exactly is inside of Alphabet? An 8-K form filed during the initial Alphabet announcement flagged "search, ads, maps, apps, YouTube, Android and the related technical infrastructure," as "Google." Calico, Nest, Google Fiber, Google Ventures, Google Capital, and Google X were all identified as individual companies inside of Alphabet.

That list leaves out a ton of Google projects, though, so there is certainly more to Alphabet than what was initially revealed. We've compiled the above chart from news and reliable sources from around the Web, and we've tacked a few more companies onto Google's original list:

• Verily is the new name for Google Life Sciences. The group just got a rebrand and a snazzy new website. This group is working on Baseline Study, the smart contact lens, and a wrist computer that reads diagnostic nanoparticles injected in the bloodstream. Life Sciences is not to be confused with Alphabet's otherhealthcare company, Calico, which is "only" out to "cure death" with anti-aging research.
• Sidewalk Labs, a group that wants to apply moonshot thinking to city life, took Google's Calico model and started off with its own CEO. Google told The Wall Street Journal that Sidewalk Labs is a separate Alphabet company.
• DeepMind, an artificial intelligence group, is also a company under Alphabet according to this report fromThe Information.
• The division for Google X's Self-Driving Car (also a robot) recently had someone appointed as "CEO." It's expected to be spun off into an Alphabet company in 2016, but for now it's still part of Google X.
• Google Fiber is not a top-level Alphabet company. It's been rolled into Access and Energy, a Google division formed in 2014. You can hear Alphabet's CFO, Ruth Porat, mention this in the latest earnings report. Access and Energy is also home to the Google OnHub router and the Titan Drones.
• We're also adding ATAP to the "Google" section since it seems like it should be an Alphabet company given that Regina Dugan, the former head of DARPA, is running it. For now, Google recently confirmed toMashable that it is still part of Google proper. The full name of the unit is "Google Advanced Technology and Products."

Google recently announced it was condensing its cloud businesses into a single unit led by Diane Greene, co-founder and CEO of VMWare. Is this a new division inside of Google or Alphabet? Does it have a name? We have no idea. Starting a new division with a superstar CEO definitely seems like the same model that created Calico, Sidewalk Labs, Replicant, and Verily, but we haven't heard of a name or anything official.

As Google's "moonshot factory," Google X houses a number of projects that seem like they could one day be Alphabet companies. A representative told us the group is in charge of Project Wing, Replicant (Google's robot division), and Google Self-Driving Cars, and thisMIT Technology Review article says Google X is still in charge of Project Loon. Makani, Google's power-generating kit project, also seems to be part of Google X.

Update: We updated the above section a bit. Based on prior reports, we originally pegged Project Wing, Replicant, and Google Self-Driving Cars as Alphabet companies, but a Google X rep reached out to us and claimed ownership of all of them. Alphabet's exact layout is still very speculative, and we're hoping we'll get more official information during Google/Alphabet's next earnings call.