Category: Renault

Posted on

Take an AR Ride With Renault into Solo: A Star Wars Story

Due for release in cinemas next month is Solo: A Star Wars Story, the next individual film in the franchise this time featuring lovable rogue Han Solo. As part of a pan-European campaign – designed and produced in collaboration with Lucasfilm, Disney and Publicis Conseil – Renault is inviting everyone to ‘take the alternative road‘ via an augmented reality (AR) app this month.

Renault KADJAR interior steering panel

Starting this week Renault is giving everyone the opportunity to be a part of Han and Lando’s adventure in Solo: A Star Wars Story via select dealerships. Visitors will be able to watch an exclusive scene from the upcoming film before its release. As an added bonus Renault has partnered with Shazam on an AR component where the public can scan Renault advertising using the Shazam app to launch a video where the user can explore the Renault KADJAR.

They’ll be able to observe each aspect of the vehicle as if it was just in front of their eyes and then click through to learn more about the features of the vehicle.

In addition to the exclusive in-dealership and Shazam experiences, Renault is also running a national competition which will provide those who enter the chance to win a variety of goodies and “money can’t buy” experiences by simply visiting their nearest dealership.

Renault KADJAR with Star Wars Millennium Falcon

The AR experience is just one part of Renault’s campaign, which also includes a TV spot that stars Chewbacca. Renault worked with leading visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic, known for their work on the Star Wars films, to create the special effects in the TV spot.

Star Wars has proven to be a big draw when it comes to immersive experiences. Currently running at Westfield Stratford City, London is The VOID’s Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire hyper-reality videogame, where players become part of the Rebellion.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is due to be released in UK cinemas on 24th May 2018. For any further virtual reality (VR) or AR collaborations with the film, keep reading VRFocus.

Posted on

Ubisoft Makes In-Car Entertainment Virtual

It is gradually becoming more common to see passengers on a train or airplane wearing a virtual reality headset such as a Samsung Gear VR or Google Daydream to escape the tedium of long-distance travel. Ubisoft are taking this idea a few steps further by putting a VR headset in a car.

A great deal of attention has been given to autonomous cars recently, with experts and commentators discussing their implications on the economy, technology and even ethics. The ideal behind self-driving cars is to free humans from the work of driving to allow for more relaxation and leisure, something which Ubisoft have embraced with its concept that pairs a VR headset with a Renault autonomous car.

The person sitting in what would normally be the driver’s seat puts on a VR headset, and as the car makes it’s way towards its destination, the human user gets to experience a VR landscape which reacts dynamically to the data captured by the car in order to produce an experience that is unique to each journey.

Anyone who has spent any time driving down a motorway will be familiar with the tedium of the endless empty miles of featureless concrete, Ubisoft’s system aims to combat this boredom by sweeping the user away to a fantasy landscape, but also combatting any simulation sickness by using the motion and data of the car itself to generate the experience.

Of course, the vehicle and its VR headset are simply proof-of-concept experiments at the moment, as self-driving cars face a raft of regulations, technical challenges and objections before they can begin to become a common sight on our roads.

If and when VR in cars does become more common, VRFocus will be there to report on it.

Posted on

Life In 360°: A Debut Lap

I said some time back that slowly, but surely on Life In 360° we were collecting all the various Formula 1 teams. Not only that but F1 seems to be in a bit of a competition as to how often they can feature on this particular VRFocus segment. Well if you’re in the corner of the gentlemen from the electric powered formula I’m afraid you’re going to be disappointed today. As Friday’s trip into 360 degree video comes from the Renault Sport Formula One team.

The video, released at the end of January shows new driver acquisition Nico Hülkenberg (formerly of the Force India team) putting last season’s car, the R.S.16, through its paces over at the the Valencia race circuit in Spain. As it happens the footage is of Hülkenberg’s very first lap behind the wheel of a Renault. Nice of them to stick a 360° camera on it before he headed out isn’t it?

According to reports the 2017 car will be revealed at the end of the month, and we should see a flurry of announcements before the new season begins. Who knows, we might even get some more 360 degree videos. Should we do so expect them to be part of a future Life In 360° post. Until then VRFocus will be back on Monday with another showcase of 360 degrees in action.