Category: Holoride

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Holoride to Offer Immersive in-car VR Experience to the Public This Month

Holoride, the Munich-based startup co-founded by Audi that looks to change everyday travel by injecting VR into the passenger’s experience, is offering free rides in Los Angeles starting this week to demonstrate the technology to the public.

Unveiled back at CES earlier this year, Holoride is a platform that essentially integrates the car’s movement into VR content, letting backseat passengers view video, and play games and experiences using a VR headset.

To that effect, the company announced its demoing its service to the public for free for a limited time, starting on October 14th and going through November 9th. If you’re in the LA area, or plan to be during that time, you can sign up here.

Although previously shown in an Audi e-tron SUV showcasing IP from Disney’s Marvel franchise, this time the start-up has partnered with Ford and Universal Pictures.

Created in partnership with Universal, the spooky game Bride of Frankenstein will be offered to holoriders aboard the new 2020 Ford Explorer; the game tasks you with fighting off creepy creatures of the night on the 10-minute adventure.

Image courtesy Holoride, Ford

One of the advertised benefits of the platform is its ability to lessen the chance of motion sickness, which occurs when a VR user perceives motion that doesn’t match up with what they expect. For this public test, the creators advise users already prone to motion sickness and dizziness not to risk it though.

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The company said back at CES 2019 that it intends on launching its integrated VR system within the next three years using standard VR headsets for backseat passengers. The company maintains that the long-term roadmap could see things like traffic events becoming a part of the experience, i.e. if you stop at a traffic light you could encounter unexpected obstacles in a game or interrupt a learning program with a quick quiz.

Since this month’s public demo will conducted on actual city streets, and not the race track used back at CES, it will be interesting to see just how far the company has come on their mission to integrate their system into real-world driving conditions.

The post Holoride to Offer Immersive in-car VR Experience to the Public This Month appeared first on Road to VR.

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Ford Takes In-Car Entertainment Virtual With Bride of Frankenstein

One day autonomous vehicles will be a normal everyday occurrence, taking us where we need to go without a second thought. Which means in tandem with this revolution in how the populous gets about, there needs to be a consideration on how time is spent, especially when it comes to long journeys. Which is why Ford and several other companies have got together to create an immersive in-car experience called Bride of Frankenstein.

Bride of Frankenstein

In conjunction with Universal Pictures’ Universal Monsters franchise, they enlisted the help of British creative studio REWIND (Curfew: Join The Race, Ghost in the Shell VR) and German tech startup Holoride to create a unique piece of entertainment.

Holoride specialises in creating in-car entertainment using virtual reality (VR), going beyond merely providing a headset to enjoy a VR experience. The technology the company has created combines both navigational and car data – such as steering, acceleration, and braking – to create a sort of ‘car theme park ride’ first seen earlier this year at CES.

So the teams have re-imagined the world of The Bride of Frankenstein, putting it inside new 2020 Ford Explorer vehicles for a special October showcase in Los Angeles. Once guests are inside the car they’ll put on a headset and find themselves joined by the Bride of Frankenstein on a special mission. REWIND’s immersive VR experience will see riders encounter interactive monsters and obstacles, complete with sound effects and visuals that react and adapt to every twist and turn of the journey and every nuance of the car’s movement.

Bride of Frankenstein

Universal Monsters Presents Bride of Frankenstein holoride will be publicly available from 14th October on select dates until 9th November at Universal CityWalk Hollywood. Completely free to try, the experience will last 10 minutes, and you are advised to book – a standby line will also be in operation.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of both REWIND’s latest VR experiences and Holoride’s continued expansion as more car manufacturers explore innovative entertainment possibilities.

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Audi-founded Startup to Bring VR to Passengers Looking for Relief from Boredom & Motion Sickness

Using VR in the car sounds like a great way to kill some time on long road trips, but there’s a few factors that may stop you from strapping a headset to your face while in the passenger’s seat—namely motion sickness, unexpected turning, and lack of compelling content. Audi wants to change this with a new technology unveiled at CES this week.

The carmaker has co-founded a start-up named holoride which is commercializing a platform that’ll integrate the car’s movement into VR content, letting backseat passengers view video, and play games and experiences using a VR headset. The platform is slated to be open, and available to all carmakers and content developers in the future, the company says.

Audi and holoride are demoing the VR implementation using an Avengers-themed experience called Marvel Avengers: Rocket’s Rescue Run, an in-car VR experience for backseat passengers built by Disney Games and Interactive Experiences.

“Wearing VR glasses, the passenger in an Audi e-tron is transported into a fantastical depiction of outer space: The Audi e-tron now functions as the ship manned by the Guardians of the Galaxy, as the passenger makes their way through an asteroid field together with Rocket, a character that will appear in Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Endgame in spring 2019. Every movement of the car is reflected in the experience in real time. If the car turns a tight corner, the player curves around an opposing spaceship in virtual reality. If the Audi e-tron accelerates, the ship in the experience does the same.”

The startup will provide a software development kit that they say “serves as the interface to the vehicle data and transfers those into virtual realities, allowing developers to create worlds that can be experienced in-car with all of the senses,” the company says in a press statement.

Image courtesy Audi, holoride

One of the advertised benefits to this system is less chance of motion sickness, which occurs when a VR user perceives motion that doesn’t match up with what they expect. Audi says the visual experience and the user’s actual perception are synchronized, making conventional movies, TV or presentations capable of being viewed with what they call “a significantly reduced chance of motion sickness.”

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“Audi, Marvel and Disney Games and Interactive Experiences are celebrating Marvel Studios’ 10th anniversary with an Avengers experience that combines world class content and innovative technology,” said Mike Goslin, Vice President, Disney Games and Interactive Experiences. “While this CES demo was developed purely in the spirit of exploration and experimentation, we are constantly evaluating emerging technologies to enhance our stories and experiences.”

Audi’s co-founded startup holoride intends to launch its integrated VR system within the next three years using standard VR headsets for backseat passengers. The company maintains that the long-term roadmap could see things like traffic events becoming a part of the experience, i.e. if you stop at a traffic light you could encounter unexpected obstacles in a game or interrupt a learning program with a quick quiz.

A similar system has also been proposed by Apple of all companies, although the Cupertino-based tech giant admittedly has done anything public with its patent yet.

The post Audi-founded Startup to Bring VR to Passengers Looking for Relief from Boredom & Motion Sickness appeared first on Road to VR.

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Audi Debuts in-car Marvel VR Experience at CES 2019

Car companies have been using virtual reality (VR) to improve and streamline the manufacturing process as well as the helping pick and customise their new cars before purchase. But what about the in-car experience for passengers? At CES 2019 this week Audi has been challenging just that concept with a VR experience that changes depending on how and where the car is driven.

Audi VR Ride
Image credit: Audi AG

Audi has co-founded a company called holoride with the sole focus being to provide immersive in-car entertainment. For the CES 2019 debut, Audi and holoride have teamed up with Disney Games and Interactive Experiences on a VR experience called Marvel’s Avengers: Rocket’s Rescue Run.

Sat in the back seat of an Audi e-tron passengers put on a VR headset, they find themselves transported into the  Guardians of the Galaxy ship, piloted by Rocket. What’s unique about the experience is that every movement of the car is replicated in real time, so if the car speeds up so does the ship, if the car takes a left-hand bend the ship will fly around an obstacle accordingly.

Audi will be licensing this technology to holoride, which in turn will create an open platform for developers and other carmakers to build their own experiences. It’ll provide a software development kit (SDK) that serves as the interface to the vehicle data which can then be transferred into VR.

“Creative minds will use our platform to come up with fascinating worlds that turn the journey from A to B into a real adventure,” said Nils Wollny, Head of Digital Business at Audi, and future CEO of holoride in a statement. “We can only develop this new entertainment segment by adopting a cooperative, open approach for vehicle, device and content producers.”

Audi VR Ride
Image credit: Audi AG

The technology can be used for many applications whether they are arcade videogames or more educational experiences. holoride also claims that: “Since the visual experience and the user’s actual perception are synchronized, conventional movies, series or presentations can also be viewed with a significantly reduced chance of motion sickness.”

“Audi, Marvel and Disney Games and Interactive Experiences are celebrating Marvel Studios’ 10th anniversary with an Avengers experience that combines world-class content and innovative technology,” said Mike Goslin, Vice President, Disney Games and Interactive Experiences. “While this CES demo was developed purely in the spirit of exploration and experimentation, we are constantly evaluating emerging technologies to enhance our stories and experiences.”

Currently, the tech is still in its infancy, with holoride expecting this new form of in-car entertainment to market within the next three years using standard VR headsets. As development continues VRFocus will bring you the latest updates from holoride.