Audi, Disney Give Passengers a Virtual Reality 'Moving Theme Park' Experience

Sometimes it gets boring when you're a passenger on a vehicle, and in most cases, travel time feels like lost time. But when there's a virtual reality game entertaining you throughout the ride, then things get much more interesting.

 

Enter Holoride--Audi and Disney's virtual reality in-car entertainment. It's a whole new level of playing games inside your vehicle, because it "combines XR with vehicle movement and navigation data, creating hyper-immersive experiences."

"When Audi called us with the idea, we were excited about the possibility of bringing our characters and stories to life in a car environment,“ according to Mike Goslin, Vice President of Disney Games and Interactive Experiences.

The technology, which was developed by Audi Electronics Venture GmbH, was introduced at the CES 2019 in Las Vegas two weeks ago.

"Impressive" immersion

This virtual reality technology has garnered good feedback from a study of 44 participants. The result? Strong immersion, thanks to its real-time physical feedback. According to Audi, immersion pertains to how 'realistic' the virtual reality is perceived by the user.

"You are completely integrated, you become a part of it, you’re totally captured," says one of the participants of the study. Another one asks: "How is it possible for me to get this lost in a game?"

Parents were particularly enthusiastic about the prototype and said they intended to use the system for long car rides with their kids as soon as it becomes available.

'Reduced motion sickness'

Interestingly, the technology lessens motion sickness. Normally, most passengers find it difficult to read or watch movies when a vehicle is moving, but the results of the study concluded that participants with a history of motion sickness didn't experience it when they played Holoride.

"With this technology, we don't 'cure' motion sickness," explained co-founder of Holoride and Audi's head of digital business, Nils Wollny in Tech Radar. "But we do reduce it significantly. Some people consuming conventional media in cars get motion sickness and this technology brings that number down. Our research showed three times as many people did not experience motion sickness."

Versatile and customized routes

The most exciting experiences are new ones. With Holoride technology, the XR content is never the same. It adapts to the type of route, to driving styles--and it's connected to the location. Content becomes "elastic and tailored to your trip."