Recently, German auto major Audi announced that its select cars will start delivering headset-based virtual-reality experiences to the passengers. The VR experience will be based on Holoride technology that will help "turn vehicles into moving theme parks".
Now, another luxury car major, Porsche, is getting into the same bandwagon, as it were. But it is still a bit away from putting the tech in its car sold mainstream.
Porsche is joining forces with Holoride to bring the new VR ride to its Porsche Experience Center (PEC) in Los Angeles. Participants will ride in the back of a Cayenne, and the motion of the vehicle will synchronize with their VR headsets to provide a fully immersive experience. Porsche and Holoride plan to roll this out to other Porsche Experience Centers and eventually worldwide soon.
Backseat entertainment comes to the fore
According to Porsche, backseat passengers of the Cayenne will be given VR headsets to play a new, original game called Cosmic Chase, in which the car turns into a spaceship, and passengers will have to fight off the alien Cymex. The thing is that the VR experience will match the movement of the car. To make this possible, Holoride will use driving data from the car such as steering, accelerating and braking. "This unique approach enables motion sickness to be reduced by matching what passengers see and feel with almost no latency," Porsche said.
"This attraction is a perfect example of how automotive experience centers are transforming into exciting destinations that the whole family can enjoy and where no one is left out," Nils Wollny, CEO and co-founder of Holoride said.
As Metaverse becomes the buzz, it is opening the doors to a magic world as far as in-vehicle entertainment goes. Several automakers have already announced their entries in the digital-meets-physical space. VR technology, combining navigational and car data, creates immersive location-based experiences using lightweight and more adaptable headsets.
Holoride is also getting ready to launch its own VR headset in partnership with HTC VIVE, The lightweight immersive VR glasses device is named HTC VIVE Flow.
