Smart Home Partnership ‘Project CHIP’ to Finally Release in 2021

Smart home partnership Project Connected Home over IP (CHIP) between Apple, Amazon, Google, and over 170 other companies, will finally make its debut later this year, The Verge is reporting.

Project CHIP is expected to make all smart home products compatible with each other. Companies participating in the program will be able to get smart home devices certified for the standard by late 2021, notes the source.

The first wave of CHIP-certified smart home products will include things like lighting, blinds, HVAC controls, TVs, door locks, garage door openers, security systems, and Wi-Fi routers.

The CHIP standard is built around three technologies: Bluetooth LE for setup, WiFi for high-bandwidth use cases, such as streaming, and the Thread mesh network protocol for low-bandwidth devices, such as motion sensors.

“The goal of CHIP is to offer a unified standard for smart home products so that customers don’t have to worry if a device they buy will work with the other devices they already own. Its technologies replace older smart home protocols such as Zigbee and Z-Wave and are designed to work with whatever voice assistant you prefer.”

Manufacturers will be able to bring CHIP support to older products through bridges, meaning the majority of existing devices might work with CHIP products in the future.