A new dimension

The world of in-car entertainment is about to be changed forever as virtual reality experiences for passengers become a reality through the introduction of holoride entertainment.

From around the middle of this year, Audi models with the latest upgrade of the modular infotainment toolkit (MIB 3) will be holoride-capable*. The new technology is being introduced at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas – a festival bringing film, music and interactive media together over the course of a 10 day festival.

Visitors to the festival will able to experience first hand how the system will transform in-car entertainment, combining the audio-visual properties of current high-end media, with the actual motion of the vehicle to create a ‘multi-dimensional’ experience that will transform the user into a whole new world of interactive experiences while ‘on the move’.

Founded in 2018 by Nils Wollny, Marcus Kuehne, Daniel Profendiner and Audi, holoride is the leader in what’s called Elastic Content for in-vehicle entertainment. It connects Extended Reality (XR) content in real-time with motion and location-aware vehicle data, such as physical feedback and navigation, to create hyper-immersive XR content and experiences for passengers. 

The system first making an appearance at the 2019 CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas. Here, participants took flight in a specially designed experience from the Marvel Universe  as they were driven around a track in Las Vegas – the movement of the car becoming one of the elements of the experience, heightening the sensation to the user of being part of the action, and not just watching it unfold.

Since then, holoride has visited other production and game studios to demonstrate the technology’s possibilities to potential partners and last year it was also featured at the Munich International Motor Show. Most recently Audi employed the system in August as part of its ongoing involvement with the Salzburg Festival, effectively turning a chauffeured e-tron into a time machine. Here, the rear seat passenger donned the headset and was transported back in time to see what the area had looked like back in 1762 – the Audi e-tron morphing into a horse and cart to suit the times.

The possibilities are endless and for passengers, even the most mundane of car journeys will be transformed into an epic adventure. The motion-synchronised nature of the system also tends to reduce the common phenomenon of motion sickness often experienced by passengers – but let’s be clear, the holoride system is largely about next level virtual experience.

It is this unique approach that is so exciting, and represents the next great step in the development of in-car entertainment – whether it be work, reading, watching films, or gaming.

The age of hyper-immersive XR content and experiences has arrived.

*At time of writing, no decision had been made about the Australian introduction of the technology.