The entertainment system developed by Audi uses virtual reality as a basis and uses the vehicle’s GPS to create gaming experiences
THE Audi took advantage of CES 2023 to show more detail about the Oloride, an in-vehicle entertainment system that uses virtual reality to generate fun experiences for passengers. Already announced some time ago at other events, the product officially arrives on the market and promises to transform the way we interact with cars.
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According to the German automaker, part of the group Volkswagenthe idea is to radically change the way passengers enjoy their journey and create an option to have fun, but without the hassles of using a mobile phone or portable video game in the car, which in some cases causes some discomfort , like like nausea.
“We want users to be able to enjoy good games in VR without worrying about what is happening in the outside world, while enjoying the ride. With holoride this is possible,” said Nils Wollny, CEO and co-founder of holoride, a company that belongs to Audi, but operates separately from the automaker.
And the proof of this independence is in the oloride options that we will have. The system can be acquired not only by owners of Audi cars capable of receiving the content, directly linked to the navigation data of the car, but also by owners of cars of other brands, thanks to the Retrofit holoride, which emulates the native experience. in any model.
To better understand the reader, the canaltech tested the loride and will tell you how the experience was.
How does the loride work?
The Oloride consists of virtual reality glasses, the HTC Vive Flow, which comes in a kit with a conventional controller and a safety strap. In Audi cars capable of using the system, the connection takes place via Bluetooth and is made directly with the car’s multimedia centre, which collects information and data from the car and transmits them to the device.
The games converted to the loride depend on the GPS system of the car to generate the worlds in which we will play, regardless of the style of the game. While we are in motion, the experiences generated for virtual reality follow exactly the same path that we draw on the GPS, making interaction with the real world very particular.
An example can be given is one of the games available for the platform, the Torn pixel 95 on the road, created by the Brazilian studio Arvore. The game has the premise of placing the user inside a family car, and while on a road trip, the challenge is to play their handheld video game while “escaping” traditional family programs, such as singing songs.
“We adapted the original Pixel Ripped to the oloride solely because we understand that the idea of the platform fits well with what the game wants to convey. The user can have fun, enjoy the time in the car and not experience problems such as nausea or things like that, but in a very simple way,” said Ricardo Justus, founder of Arvore, in an interview with canaltech during CES 2023.
In the case of the Retrofit holoride, a module can be placed anywhere in the car and emulate the experience as if it were an Audi with the native system. Sure, the experience isn’t the same as with the native model, but it’s still very cool.
In addition to playing games, you can mirror your mobile screen and watch videos on your Youtube or Netflix, For instance. Everything is designed for entertainment.
Playing with the loride and the moving car
For the test offered by Audi, we used an Audi e-Tron as a basis and the system installed was the Retrofit holoride. Putting the HTC Vive Flow in front of us, we immediately immersed ourselves in the world that the platform wants to offer, but we felt that from choosing the game and actually living the experience, everything was very fast and simple, without secrets.
The game chosen was precisely the Torn pixel 95 on the road, available for testing in its demo version. The journey lasted about 20 minutes and covered the streets of Las Vegas, with curves and higher speed situations. Pointing and calibrating the VR glasses forward is essential and very easy to do, with the push of a button.
The controls for the game are also simple, as part of the game is about going through a stage of a platform style game. The important thing, however, is that at a certain point the game, which ran on a kind of virtual GameBoy, goes out into “its world” and enters the foreground of the HTC Vive screen.
Then we have to move the neck more and use more commands, which is definitely cognitively demanding. In our case, as the driver was very good, we didn’t get many surprises along the way, as the enemies also moved as the car moved.
Something that caught the eye, however, was the feel. In some reports at the Audi event, we noticed that nobody got sick, but there was some nausea. In the case of our report, the fact that the air inside the car was very warm (it’s winter in Las Vegas), was more annoying than the movement of the vehicle itself.
In ship games or with increased exposure to lights or other faster movement, this may be more noticeable. It’s good to remember that it all depends on your body and what you ate, for example. Don’t expect to have a feijoada lunch and go straight to the oloride to shoot into space.
Many games available
According to Audi, many games are already available on the platform, which will soon reach the US and European markets. Nothing has been said about Brazil, but considering how the technology was made, nothing prevents holoride from being launched in our market as well. The product does not depend on the Internet or previous GPS route mapping. Everything is done in real time.
Also, according to holoride staff, other Bluetooth controls can be paired with HTC Vive Flow, such as Xbox models for example. If you already own an HTC headset like this, it can also be used with the holoride system.
Pricing for the holoride kits and season ticket will be revealed at a later date.
OR canaltech traveled to Las Vegas at the invitation of Volkswagen do Brasil.
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Source: Terra
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
