In a bid to allow better synergy between its growing slate of smart home devices, Google has announced its Nest division is being combined into Google’s Home and Living products team.
Previously, Nest was in its hardware division. Also Nest CEO Marwan Fawaz is stepping down, but will remain an advisor with the company. Rishi Chandra, vice president of product management for Google’s Home and Living room products, will now oversee Nest. Fawaz, who previously worked for Motorola’s home security and home automation platform business, took over as CEO in June 2016 after Tony Fadell stepped down to be an advisor to Alphabet CEO Larry Page.
The combination of Nest with other Google home products will enable the company to tap into some of the artificial intelligence and machine learning advances made by the company, according to Fawaz and Rishi. Last October, the company unveiled a slew of new smart home products and features, including the voice control Google Home Mini ($50), Google Home Max ($399), Pixel 2 phone, Pixel Buds earbuds, and ongoing machine learning that makes everything smarter, from voice recognition to image searches to home automation. The Google Home Max is a direct Sonos competitor
