Audi took advantage of CES 2023 to show in more detail the holoride, a vehicle entertainment system that uses virtual reality to generate fun experiences for passengers. Already announced some time ago at other events, the product officially hits the market and promises to transform the way we interact with cars.
According to the German automaker, part of the Volkswagen group, the idea is to radically change the way passengers are going to enjoy their trips and create an option for them to have fun, but without the problems of using a cell phone or portable video game in the car, something that causes some discomfort in some cases, such as nausea.
“We want users to be able to enjoy good games in virtual reality without worrying about what happens in the outside world, while enjoying the journey of travel. With holoride this is possible”, said Nils Wollny, CEO and co-founder of holoride, company which belongs to Audi, but operates separately from the automaker.
And proof of this independence is in the holoride options we will have. The system can be acquired not only by owners of Audi cars able to receive the content, which is directly linked to the car’s navigation data, but also by owners of vehicles from other brands, thanks to the Retrofit holoride, which emulates the native experience. in any model.
For the reader to understand better, the canaltech tested the holoride and will tell you how the experience was.
How does holoride work?
The holoride is made up 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 is via Bluetooth and made directly with the vehicle’s multimedia center, which collects information and data from the car and transmits it to the device.
Games converted to the holoride depend on the car’s GPS system to generate the worlds in which we are going to play, regardless of the style of the game. As we are on the move, the experiences generated for virtual reality follow exactly the same path that we draw on the GPS, making the interaction with the real world very peculiar.
An example can be given is one of the games available for the platform, the Pixel Ripped 95 On The Road, created by Brazilian studio Arvore. The game has the premise of placing the user inside a family car and, during a trip, the challenge is to play your portable video game “running away” from traditional family programs, such as singing songs.
“We adapted the original Pixel Ripped to the holoride exclusively because we understand that the idea of the platform goes well with what the game wants to pass. The user can have fun, enjoy the time in the car and not have problems like 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 in any part of the car and emulate the experience as if it were in an Audi with the native system. Of course, the experience is not the same as the native model, but it is very interesting anyway.
In addition to games, it is possible to mirror the cell phone screen and watch videos on YouTube or Netflix, for example. Everything is thought for entertainment.
Playing with the holoride and the moving car
For the test offered by Audi, we used an Audi e-Tron as a base and the installed system was the Retrofit holoride. By putting the HTC Vive Flow on our face, we were soon immersed 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 Pixel Ripped 95 On The Road, available for testing in its demo version. The journey took approximately 20 minutes and covered the streets of Las Vegas, with curves and higher speed situations. Aiming and calibrating the VR glasses forward is essential and very easy to do, with just a simple press of a button.
The commands for the game are also simple, since part of the game is about passing a stage of a platform-style game. The big thing, however, is that at a certain point the game, which was running on a kind of virtual GameBoy, goes out into “its world” and comes into the foreground on the HTC Vive’s screen.
Then we need to move our necks more and use more commands, something that is certainly challenging from a cognitive point of view. In our case, as the driver was very good, we didn’t have many surprises along the way, since the enemies also moved as the car moved.
Something that called attention, however, were the sensations. In some reports at the Audi event, we noticed that no one got sick, but some nausea was felt. In the case of our report, the fact that the air inside the car was very hot (it’s winter in Las Vegas), bothered more than the movement of the vehicle itself.
In ship games or with greater exposure to lights or other more sudden movements, this can be more evident. It’s good to remember that it all depends on your organism and what you ate, for example. Don’t expect to have a feijoada lunch and go straight to the holoride to fire shots in outer space.
Many games available
According to Audi, many games are already available on the platform, which will reach the US and European market soon. Nothing has been said about Brazil, but considering how the technology was made, nothing prevents holoride from launching in our market as well. The product does not depend on the internet or previous mapping of the GPS route. Everything is done in real time.
In addition, according to holoride staff, other Bluetooth controls can be paired with the 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.
Prices for holoride kits and subscription will be revealed at a later date.
O canaltech traveled to Las Vegas at the invitation of Volkswagen do Brasil.
