16 Jan 2026
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Mike Boland
AWE Talks: Spatial Computing Meets Physical AI
Welcome back to AWE Talks, our series that revisits the best AWE conference sessions. With AWE EU 2025 concluded, we have a fresh batch of session footage to sink our teeth into for weeks to come.
We continue the action this week with a look at everyone's favorite topic: physical AI. Even though everyone wants a piece, perhaps no one is more primed for physical AI than Niantic Spatial. Thomas Gewecke takes us inside.
See the summarized takeaways below, along with the full session video. Stay tuned for more video highlights each week and check out the full library of conference sessions on AWE’s YouTube Channel.
Speakers
Thomas Gewecke, Niantic Spatial
Key Takeaways & Analysis
– Physical AI was one of the hottest topics at CES this year, and broader tech circles
– It takes AI's success on the web and unleashes it in the physical world.
– There, it can have more value in infusing intelligence in the spaces we all occupy.
– This is one area that represents the crossroads of AI and XR that everyone talks about.
– But when looking at players in AI and XR, there are a few primed for physical AI.
– Along with Google's work in geospatial tech, Niantic is near the top of that list.
– All the work it's been doing for years to build spatial maps can flow into physical AI.
– Just as large language models fuel AI, large geospatial models fuel physical AI.
– Niantic has leaned into this concept by applying much of its existing tech.
– Those efforts include visual positioning to localize devices anywhere in the world.
– Understanding and indexing the world is the first step towards advanced physical AI.
– Geospatial AR was always an endpoint, but now there's so much more.
– This also aligns with another exciting area of AI development: world models.
– By simulating real world environments, world models are widely applicable.
– That includes everything from city planning, to enterprise training to gaming.
– Niantic will continue to innovate and adapt to the directions of physical AI
For more color and depth, see the full session below...
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