Audi has arrived at this year’s Consumer Electronics
Show in Las Vegas with tech that adapts virtual content to the movements of a
vehicle in real time. The German automaker is also debuting the “Marvel’s Avengers:
Rocket’s Rescue Run” prototype, created in association with Disney Games and
Interactive Experiences. Once your VR glasses are on, the Audi e-tron crossover
turns into a ship manned by the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Every movement the car makes in real life is
reflected in a virtual experience in real time. So for example if the car
drives through a right turn, the VR spaceship you’re on does the same. Then, if
the e-tron accelerates, the ship replicates that motion as well – and so on.
As for the actual plot of the game, you’re meant to
make your way through an asteroid field together with Rocket Raccoon, the
Guardians of the Galaxy character that will appear in Avengers: Endgame this
spring.
In order to move forward with this technology, Audi
has co-founded a start-up named Holoride, which will then use an open platform
to allow automakers and content developers to create additional “extended
reality formats” such as arcade games, underwater adventures, space exploration
and even educational trips through historical cities.
Holoride will launch this new form of entertainment
within the next three years using standard VR glasses. In the long term though,
the development of the car-to-X infrastructure could lead to actual traffic
events becoming a part of the experience – like how stopping at a light could
introduce unexpected obstacles to a game or interrupt a learning program with a
pop quiz.
