Oliver Haslam·

Project CHIP Will Begin Smart Home Device Certification Later This Year

Apple, Google, Amazon, and the Zigbee Alliance announced plans for a new universal standard for smart home products in 2019 and now we’re starting to see some movement on the project.

It will eventually take advantage of existing programs and protocols including Apple’s HomeKit, Google’s Weave, Amazon’s Alexa, and others.

Project Connected Home over IP, or Project CHIP for short, is expected to make it easier for accessory and device makers to make products that work across a wider range of smart home platforms and digital assistants and it looks set to begin certification of devices in late 2021.

The standard is going to include various categories including lights, cameras, thermostats, TVs, bridges, and more. Those bridges will even allow Project CHIP devices to talk to legacy smart home products, according to a webinar hosted by the Zigbee Alliance earlier this week.

One of the big hurdles smart homes have had to overcome is the way accessories and devices are so fragmented.

Just because a device works with Alexa, it doesn’t mean it will work with Siri and vice-versa. That’s now going to change or, at least, it will once Project CHIP rolls around later this year.

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