Category: Toyota

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Take A Toyota Camry On A Test Drive With A Difference In Vanishing Point Media’s ‘Camry Thrill Ride’

We’ve discussed how companies are turning to virtual reality (VR) and immersive technologies as a whole on a number of occasions at VRFocus. While the idea of advertising within VR media is still shown to be something consumers find reluctant to accept, the industry itself has proven far more accepting of the changes with heavy investment in platforms like Immersv, the development of new toolkits and SDK’s by company’s like Vertebrae, and new deals being announced all the time. With platforms like Omnivirt becoming quite prolific in their deals in both VR and augmented reality (AR).

The use of immersive technology to create advertising experiences has found a very willing partner in the automotive industry, with the ability to allow viewers the chance to take a ‘virtual test drive’ any time they want proving popular for manufacturers and customers. With companies like Kia, Mazda and BMW being amongst those having previously released experiences.

The latest to go this route is Japanese car giant Toyota, who have turned to 360 degree video as a way to promote their new vehicle, the latest iteration of the Toyota Camry with an experience created by Vanishing Point Media (who previously appeared on the site after working on VR thriller The Hidden) and Davis Elen Advertising.

“VR’s biggest hurdle is pairing people with headsets. We salute Davis Elen and Toyota of SoCal because they’re making a savvy investment in VR and innovative media. By bringing headsets into the showroom, Toyota dealers are opening up a whole new user base to the VR experience,” said Annie Lukowski, co-founder of Vanishing Point Media.

“In creating VR pieces, there is a danger of becoming so focused on the idea of providing a physical ‘experience’ that you lose sight of what makes all storytelling emotionally immersive – connection to others,” added BJ Schwartz, the Co-Founder of Vanishing Point Media. “That’s why our experience, unlike some others, isn’t solitary in the least. You take this ride with other excited, giddy passengers.”

Part of the “Camry Thrill Ride” campaign for Toyota, it takes users inside one of the all-new 2018 Toyota Camrys for a trip through a closed-course stunt ride and is available not just on social media but will also be appearing at select Toyota dealerships within the Southern California region, as well as various pop-up events the company will be hosting in the future.

Check out the video for the experience below.

 

Camry Thrill Ride 360

The hottest ticket at the Los Angeles Auto Show, was the Toyota Camry Thrill Ride. Participants got to climb into a 2018 Camry and let a professional stunt driver take them on a scream-packed ride. We thrilled thousands and now we're making it easy to share with the rest of the world. Here's your chance to take the Camry Thrill Ride! Explore the 360˚ experience and visit toyotasocal.co/CamryThrillRideVR for a fully immersive VR adventure!

Posted by Toyota SoCal on Tuesday, 20 February 2018

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Toyota Use VR To Move Humanoid Robot

Though best known for making cars, Toyota have been involved in robotics for years, though most media attention has gone towards its efforts to create humanoid robots. The company’s recently unveiled version is its third-generation robot, T-HR3, which uses a virtual reality (VR) system to remotely control the robot.

Toyota have created a system called the ‘Master Manoeuvring System’ that combines an HTC Vive headset with a data glove and haptic force feedback along with torque servos to control the T-HR3 robot and allow it to mimic a human range of movement. The T-HR3 has 16 controls that are capable of commanding 29 robot parts, allowing the robot to move in a smooth manner comparable to human movement, and allowing the operator a comfortable user experience.

The robot was built by Toyota’s Partner Robot Division, who created it to test the possibility of humanoid robots to assist humans in areas such as medical facilities, construction sites, disaster areas, or even in space, to protect humans for areas and tasks which could prove harmful.

The robot stands 5 feet, 1 inch tall, and weighs 165 pounds. Human operators sit in a specialised rig to control the robot, and can move the robot forwards by simply walking in place. The robot has a balance control system to prevent it from falling over it it bumps into something.

“The Partner Robot team members are committed to using the technology in T-HR3 to develop friendly and helpful robots that coexist with humans and assist them in their daily lives,” said Akifumi Tamaoki, general manager of Toyota’s robots. “Looking ahead, the core technologies developed for this platform will help inform and advance future development of robots to provide ever-better mobility for all.”

Toyota’s robot will be showcased at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo between 29th November to 2nd December, 2017. A video demonstration of the robot is available to view below.

VRFocus will continue to bring you news on new and innovative uses for VR technology.

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Toyota’s New Experimental Humanoid Robot Uses HTC Vive for Remote Operation

Toyota recently revealed T-HR3, the company’s third-generation humanoid robot. Designed primarily as an experiment to explore new technologies to make robots more physically capable, T-HR3 demonstrates a new “remote maneuvering system” that not only mirrors a user’s movements to the robot, but lets them see and interact with the world through the ‘eyes’ and arms of the robot using a robotic exoskeleton, an HTC Vive headset, and a pair of Vive Trackers.

Controlled via what Toyota calls a “Master Maneuvering System,” T-HR3 allows the entire body of the robot to be operated by a person thanks to wearable controls that the company says mirrors the user’s head, hand, arm and foot movements.

Both the robot itself and the Master Maneuvering System contain  a series of motors, reduction gears and torque sensors connected to each joint. A total of 16 controls command 29 individual robot body parts, making for what the company calls “a smooth, synchronized user experience.”

Toyota is positioning the robot as the next logical step in the ultimate goal of creating a friendly assistant capable of helping people in a variety of settings, including the home and medical facilities, and more dangerous places like construction sites, disaster-stricken areas and outer space. As investment in telepresence-controlled humanoid robot grows though, there’s bound to be a number of happy side effects for VR users like better force-feedback haptics and full immersion rigs that could equally be used to control VR avatars. Because projects like these are still in prototyping, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens during the inevitable rise of our robotic companions. In any case, we’ll be here reporting (until the journo-bots take our jobs, that is).

If you want to see T-HR3 in action, it will be featured at the upcoming International Robot Exhibition 2017 from November 29th through December 2nd at Tokyo Big Sight.

The post Toyota’s New Experimental Humanoid Robot Uses HTC Vive for Remote Operation appeared first on Road to VR.

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Infographic: Virtual Reality in Motoring

The concept of virtual reality is increasingly making its presence felt across numerous industries, not least motoring. A few years ago, virtual reality (VR) would have been the sole preserve of research and development teams in the process of designing new vehicles. Now, it has made its way into the customer experience, with many showrooms offering virtual test drives to motorists who can get a true sense of how a car feels to drive without having to set foot outside the showroom. Indeed, motorists can now take virtual test drives from the comfort of their own homes.

Even mixed reality is interesting the automotive industry

The infographic below, which was created by Woodstock Motors, explores how VR is changing the game not just for drivers and motor companies, but also car dealerships, motoring circuits and satellite industries such as tire manufacturers. Aside from the virtual test drive experience which we mentioned earlier, VR has been put to very good use by several leading car brands. Ford and Audi have both utilized the technology to create virtual impressions of their vehicles which allow customers to obtain a sensual experience of the inside and outside of a car simply by wearing an Oculus Rift headset. Toyota has used VR for a different reason, namely to emphasize the importance of road safety by simulating a driving experience where motorists’ responses to numerous distractions are tested. If motorists could see the devastation that unsafe road habits could cause without actually putting themselves at risk, they may well be prompted to rethink their driving once they’ve seen a vivid depiction of just what could happen.

For showroom operators, VR opens some very enticing new doors. The provision of a virtual test drive will no doubt pique the interests of customers, who even if they don’t like the technology could still take the time to tour the showroom and perhaps be wooed by some of the cars on offer. There’s also the practical benefit of precious showroom real estate being liberated by VR test drives, with this free space potentially being used to showcase more cars.

Another intriguing aspect of VR is the potential for drivers to create their own custom ‘dream car’ and add or remove specific features as they please. For example, they can see a virtual display of how cup holders would be presented within the vehicle and tailor any such features to their own specifications. Essentially, you can create a car that’s unique to you – how cool is that!

It seems that it won’t be too much longer before using VR to build your customized ‘dream car’ in the morning and having it delivered to your door by evening is a common occurrence. The possibilities of VR are almost frightening to think about, even though the concept is still in its infancy. Whether or not it proves a lasting success, it’s hard to dispute the sense that VR will make us reconsider the way we look at the motoring industry.

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The Time Judge Gorsuch Brought Copyright Law Into the 21st Century

Good news: the newest nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court gets copyright law, including how it does–and doesn’t–apply to emerging forms of digital media.

The 10th Circuit’s 2008 decision in Meshwerks v Toyota Motor Sales USA, Inc.–which Judge Neil Gorsuch wrote–is one I’ve cited in this blog several times. Of course, it’s one that comes to mind for me because I had the privilege of arguing the case for the successful Toyota defendants, both in the Utah district court and the 10th Circuit. But, as I’ve explained before, its subject matter is specifically relevant to augmented reality, virtual reality, and the other forms of emerging digital media I discuss here, because the case dealt with something crucial to all these new media: digital models.

Here’s a brief summary of the background. When Toyota and its advertisers decided to start using digital (rather than photographic) images of cars in their ads, they hired Meshwerks, a Utah-based a contractor, to create wire-frame digital scans of the vehicles. The marketing team could then colorize, animate, and tweak these images however they needed to. When the defendants altered the images to reflect adjustments to the car body designs, however, Meshwerks sued, arguing that it owned the copyright in the digital models it created.

The courts, however, agreed with us that Meshwerks couldn’t own a copyright, because the digital models were not copyrightable in the first place.

What? You’d be forgiven for having that reaction. A lot of commentators out there–including treatise author and copyright curmudgeon Bill Patry–certainly did. They groused about how much time and effort went into creating digital models, and lamented that the stodgy old courts just didn’t get new technology.

On closer examination, however, it was the critics who weren’t thinking precisely enough. The issue wasn’t whether digital models in general are protectable by copyright law. Of course they are. Copyright law protects expression regardless of the media in which it’s contained. But the law only protects original expression–that is, something that its author came up with rather than copied. The amount of effort and skill that goes into creating the work (what courts call “sweat of the brow”) is irrelevant to this analysis.  The fundamental flaw in plaintiff’s argument here was focusing on the skill it took to operate the 3D scanning machines and Maya modeling software but ignoring the fact that, at the end of the day, all they were doing was reproducing the exact dimensions of something that already existed. They created new digital files, but those files contained nothing conceptually new.

Although that makes good sense once you understand the issues, it can be a difficult distinction to draw and to explain–even to those already versed in copyright law.

That’s one reason Judge Gorsuch’s opinion in the case was so impressive. He threaded the needle very carefully, and explained his reasoning in a way designed to ease the fears of those who might be tempted to use the result to restrict the availability of copyright for digital media. Even Patry grudgingly came around, calling this opinion “a must for inclusion in casebooks for law school classes.”  Here’s an excerpt:

A Luddite might make the mistake of suggesting that digital modeling, as was once said of photography, allows for nothing more than “mechanical reproduction of the physical features or outlines of some object . . . and involves no originality of thought or any novelty in the intellectual operation connected with its visible reproduction in [the] shape of a picture.” Clearly, this is not so.

Digital modeling can be, surely is being, and no doubt increasingly will be used to create copyrightable expressions. Yet, just as photographs can be, but are not per se, copyrightable, the same holds true for digital models. There’s little question that digital models can be devised of Toyota cars with copyrightable features, whether by virtue of unique shading, lighting, angle, background scene, or other choices. The problem for Meshwerks in this particular case is simply that the uncontested facts reveal that it wasn’t involved in any such process, and indeed contracted to provide completely unadorned digital replicas of Toyota vehicles in a two-dimensional space. For this reason, we do not envision any “chilling effect” on creative expression based on our holding today, and instead see it as applying to digital modeling the same legal principles that have come, in the fullness of time and with an enlightened eye, to apply to photographs and other media.

This reasoning (which has already been cited more than 100 times by other courts) helped set the stage for protecting creators of original digital expression, while at the same time roping off a category of mere digital reproductions that will remain in the public domain. In this way, as I’ve written before, Judge Gorsuch’s opinion provides useful guidelines for those developing content in AR, VR, and similar emerging media.

This case, then, suggests that, if Judge Gorsuch is confirmed as our next Supreme Court Justice, the IP and digital media communities are likely to have one more friend on the bench.

 

The post The Time Judge Gorsuch Brought Copyright Law Into the 21st Century appeared first on Wassom.com.

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Toyota C-HR VR Experience to be Showcased at VR & AR World

Taking place in London, UK next week is the VR & AR World, a two day event featuring speakers from sectors such as technology manufacturers, broadcasters, investors, hardware and software developers, retail, design, healthcare, construction and more. In attendance will be ZeroLight and Toyota, confirming today that the C-HR virtual reality (VR) experience will be on display.

First shown in Hungry then most recently at the Paris Motor Show the C-HR VR Experience was created to allow visitors to digitally discover and personalise the vehicle ahead of release, enabling them to walk around, configure, open the doors/boot and virtually sit inside the vehicle. Toyota will also be conducting a tour of the UK this month with the new vehicle.

Toyota-C-HR

ZeroLight CMO Francois de Bodinat will be making a presentation at the event discussing the importance of VR within the wider digitisation movement and its application during a products life cycle. After de Bodinat’s presentation a panel will be will be held discussing the impact of immersive technology on the automotive industry.

“Virtual Reality offers a highly immersive experience that completely engages and excites customers” said Darren Jobling, ZeroLight CEO. “Toyota are utilising this technology in a unique way, providing people with an opportunity to discover and influence their new crossover ahead of its worldwide release.”

Earlier today VRFocus reported on Roto VR, a company making a motorised revolving chair that’ll aims to make VR even more immersive whilst reducing simulator sickness. The Roto VR will be on display at VR & AR World during the two day event.

VR & AR World is being held at ExCel London on 19th – 20th October 2016, and for all the latest VR event details keep reading VRFocus.

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Life In 360°: Toyota Hits The Roads Of California

We’ve covered a number of automotive videos in 360 degrees on Life In 360 down the months. Be it the latest attempts by Formula 1 to film in  the medium, Formula E’s attempts to create virtual races, car stories, car shows, car advertisements, you name it and at this point we’ve covered it. Probably twice. Still as the medium becomes more popular and additionally more accessible so to increases the interests and the frequency in which we see it.

Today’s video falls under the promotional category and is for Japanese manufacturer Toyota, promoting a new version of it’s Prius line. Again, not the first time they have been featured on Life In 360°, previously teaming with Discovery to create a video that explained how the hydrogen cell works in the Toyota Mirai. Last month a patent was also revealed detailing Toyota’s work in the field of augmented reality (AR) and the development of an AR inclusive windshield.

The advert is a product of Los Angeles studio VR Playhouse, another name likely familiar to regular VRFocus readers, and follows the story of  friends taking a trip in their Prius cars across a America and embarking on a number of classic summer adventure scenarios.  All designed to show-off the Californian state and the redesigned Prius in its ‘CA Style’.

“We wanted to show the idea of people travelling, going on adventures, and spending time with friends.” Explains the director, VR Playhouse’s director DJ Turner. “Incorporating not only iconic locations like San Francisco and the Central Valley, but also parts of NorCal life that you don’t often see, like tubing in the river. Northern California has so much to experience, and the Prius is a great way to do it all. I hope the 360 video encourages people to get out and explore, wherever they may be.”

 VRFocus will bring you another example of 360 degree video on Wednesday.