Google later this month will launch a new version of its smart speaker Nest Hub that can track users' sleep via a built-in radar sensor, according to a March 16 company blog post.
The new Nest Hub device performs a "sleep sensing" process using a radar sensor, which measures micromovements like a person's chest moving while breathing to determine when they are sleeping. The device also has microphones to determine if the person is snoring or coughing as well as other built-in-sensors to check the room's temperature and light brightness.
The device uses all the gathered data to tell the user how well they slept and then also make recommendations for better sleep, such as setting a reminder to go to bed at a certain time or trying meditating before bed.
All the radar and audio data collected is not sent to Google, the tech giant said. The information on users' sleep quality is sent to the cloud and can be synced with Google Fit. Users can also delete their nightly sleep reports at any time.
Google will offer Sleep Sensing free for the next year.