Audi partners with Disney to entertain car passengers with VR
Audi is getting into the entertainment business — well, sort of...
The car-maker is collaborating with Disney Games and Interactive Experiences this week at CES to demonstrate how a car's backseat can be more than just a place to hangout while you travel to your final destination.
Using a virtual reality headset in this limited-run experience, passengers could shoot lasers at asteroids and drones, and fly through space with Marvel's Rocket Raccoon guiding them around.
Iron Man also makes an appearance and flies alongside the car. But this isn't simply sticking on a headset and pressing play -- the VR world matches what's happening with the car in the real world. If the car turns, so does the rocket ship. You brake suddenly, so does the game.
Audi said this is what happens "when a car becomes more than just a car." It certainly seems targeted to younger kids bored in the back, but it also opens up possibilities for ride-hailing riders and eventually autonomous vehicle passengers.
A demo video showed a passenger collecting points for every pedestrian that crossed the sidewalk in front of the car at a stop sign -- real pedestrians that in this AR/VR world turned into cute chicks crossing the road. (Yes, we hear the joke.) This could go beyond gaming, such as with relaxation experiences floating in the clouds or immersive movies.
Audi also announced at CES a new startup, Holoride, that it's investing in and building to bring the in-car VR experience like the Disney one to Audi and other cars. It's also developing an open platform to create more VR games and experiences meant for the car. The future Holoride CEO Nils Wollny said, "the street turns into the canvas." Holoride launches as a company in February and hopes to have experiences like games and movies available for passengers within the next three years.
Back in the Audi e-tron -- the company's new all-electric SUV -- I strapped into an Oculus Rift headset (Audi anticipates a headset-agnostic platform in the future) and grasped a remote and launched into space as part of the available-only-at-CES game,Marvel’s Avengers: Rocket’s Rescue Run. As Disney's Mike Goslin, the lead for advanced development, said, "the car becomes your ship."
Backseat fun.Credit: audiAfter two laps at the Speed Vegas race track, I was sufficiently woozy, but very entertained. I felt like I'd gone on ride on Space Mountain or another Disney roller coaster. I'd meant to peek out from under the headset during the 5-minute ride, but I was too immersed in the space adventure. I think I had a virtual mission, but I was too busy exploring and feeling like I was flying. Fireworks even exploded in front of me at the end.
SEE ALSO:I drove my first all-electric car. It reminded me of my distracting smartphone.Audi claims matching the car movements with the VR journey makes for a less sickness-inducing experience, but it's still VR. You can't get away from the pitfalls of the platform, which is the problem no matter how well matched the backseat is for this type of experience. You're out of touch underneath the headset, lost to the outside world and disconnected from the driver, fellow passengers, and reality.
I also feel bad for the human driver who misses out on the fun and is stuck in traffic instead of shooting down drones. We need those self-driving cars now.
Featured Video For You
This restaurant serves dinner with a side of virtual reality
TopicsDisneyGamingMarvelVirtual Reality
(责任编辑:关于我们)
- The Analog Embrace: How Some Experiences Are Surviving the Digital Age
- The only voter fraud in 2020 was New Zealand's 'Bird of the Year' vote
- North Korea to send 140
- How many of Trump's social media posts were flagged since Election Day
- Police bust crypto scammer who received plastic surgery to evade arrest
- How do you make safe, cheap nuclear reactors? Bury them a mile deep
- Twitter pranksters flood pro
- After ban, new 'Stop the Steal' Groups spread conspiracy theories on Facebook
- Military gets ready for talks with North Korea
- Arshad Nadeem receives Hilal
- The only voter fraud in 2020 was New Zealand's 'Bird of the Year' vote
- After ban, new 'Stop the Steal' Groups spread conspiracy theories on Facebook
- 'Euphoria' star Lukas Gage stays classy after a director's Zoom fail
-
A patient at Korea University Guro Hospital in Seoul, on Thursday, walks past a poster, recommending ...[详细]
-
WhatsApp now has disappearing messages, but there's a catch
Facebook's WhatsApp has added a much-needed privacy feature: disappearing messages. But it seems tha ...[详细] -
在“不忘初心、牢记使命”主题教育中,我市在政务便民服务上下大力、出真功,深化“一网一门一次”改革,创新服务方式,提升服务效能,切实解决群众反映强烈的“办事慢、办事难、办事烦”等问题,不断提高群众满意度 ...[详细]
-
Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon proposed a high-level inter-Korean meeting for Jan. 9 at a medi ...[详细]
-
Tesla reveals Cybertruck has sold more than DeLorean
If you want to know how many Cybertrucks Tesla has sold, just wait for the next recall. Two months a ...[详细] -
Impact of Temperature on Intel CPU Performance
If you're looking for authoritative information on how much cooling is enough for your CPU, you'll b ...[详细] -
雅安日报/北纬网讯入冬以来,为贯彻关于今冬明春安全生产工作相关要求,积极备战“五好高速”创建验收,四川成渝高速公路股份有限公司成雅分公司路产管护雅安大队以下简称:大队)采取一系列举措保障高速公路冬季行 ...[详细]
-
John Paul Stevens, maverick and conscience of the Supreme Court, dies at 99.
Popular in News & Politics Alito’s Explanation for the Upside-Down A ...[详细] -
The AI stock bubble has burst. Here's how we know.
When you live in tech bubble central, signs of a tech bubble become easier to spot every time. Drive ...[详细] -
N. Korea escalating calls on US to recognize it as nuclear power
By Jun Ji-hyeNorth Korea is escalating calls on the United States to recognize Pyongyang as a nuclea ...[详细]