Earlier this month Audi announced it will offer this summer a new kind of virtual reality gaming for passengers in the car.
Called Holoride, it is a VR-Goggle system that links to the car’s movement so the user doesn’t get motion sickness. If your role in the video game is piloting a plane, then when the car turns left, so will your plane, or when the car slows or stops, so will your plane.
Also, when your travel route is keyed into the navigation system, Holoride then tailors the game to the length of your ride.
Is this a problem for the aftermarket?
One supplier said the industry could develop the capability to interface with this kind of technology though the use of accelerometers to determine the movement of the car to achieve the game’s corresponding movement.
Joe Caltabiano, VP Vehicle Entertainment for VOXX Electronics said, “Usually, the aftermarket is leading OE by being quicker to market with new technology. However, in light of some of the concerns related to complete visual blockage of the user in an in-vehicle environment, we would rather see what the take-rate is from the consumer on the OE level, before engaging in such technology.”
Holoride is part of a larger trend of car makers beefing up “car theater” in anticipation of self driving cars. And 5G is expected to accelerate the trend.
BMW showed at CES in January a 31-inch, 8K rear seat system where a screen can activate and retract from the headliner.
I wonder if we can add a tactile transducer to the seat so it is closer reallity. (A/R)
This is going a bit far, don’t you think?