LAS VEGAS: Audi is saying goodbye to boring car rides: The German car manufacturer has developed a platform for its back seat entertainment system that offers Virtual Reality films, games and other interactive content.
Unveiled at the CES tech fair here, the platform comes with VR glasses that can be connected to the car so that the virtual world is adapted to the motion of the vehicle.
This new entertainment system will not only be available in Audi cars, but also across the industry. For this purpose, Audi has created a start-up, named Holoride, which is a joint venture with other business partners. Audi's subsidiary Audi Electronics Venture has a minority stake in the start-up.
The company also hopes to attract content creators who are interested in building "fascinating worlds" on the new platform, as Audi digital manager and future CEO of Holoride, Nils Wollny, said at CES.
The company showcased Holoride at the electronics show, demonstrating how passengers sitting on the back bench were given VR glasses and driven around a closed-off racing track. Audi says that in the future, the system should also work with VR glasses such as Oculus Quest without needing an external computer.
The glasses are connected to the car's sensors as well, which means that as the car turns right, the passengers in the VR world also experience their space ship turning right, for instance. The system can also automatically choose a game that takes as long as the predicted travel time will, based on the navigation system's data.
