Now VR in car can take you to outer space

Still dreaming about outer space while riding in a high-speed car? Now a project initiated by motion capture company Noitom Ltd and Volkswagen Import offers a solution.

Although virtual reality is most commonly used in car sales when dealers can easily show potential buyers more information about their preferred car types, the project is eyeing the growing need of in-car VR entertainment experience and expecting to showcase related products in the upcoming Universal Studios Beijing.

Dai Ruoli, co-founder and CTO of Noitom, said that VR adaptation in car experience might open up a new sector that has great potential in consumers' market, and that Noitom is happy to cooperate with Volkswagen Import in that area.

A report from Venture Reality Fund, an investment company specialized in the VR sector, said that consumers' need for VR in entertainment has surged 79 percent year-on-year in 2017, projecting great market potential for companies developing related contents and techniques.

Last year also saw cooperation between industry giants that offer solutions of in-car VR entertainment experience. For instance, Intel Corp has partnered with Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc last November to offer passengers VR experience while riding in a car.

"The project also shows Volkswagen Import's efforts in enhancing consumers' experience, other than just manufacturing and selling vehicles," said Axel Schroeder, managing director of Volkswagen Import.

Amid increasingly fierce competition in the car manufacturing market, tech adaptation is more welcomed than ever by brands to increase their competitiveness in global market.

Adapting virtual reality techniques into car riding experiences, the project adopted a real-time dual-tracking system for vehicle positioning, outdoor GPS and in-vehicle motion tracking techniques.

Those designs were to offer passengers a most "real" riding experience, as images in VR contents, like land or mountain, can be accurately positioned with designed obstacles in real field.

On a trial run this Thursday, about 20 guests were invited to experience. Sitting in the front passenger's seat and with the helmet on, what lay in front of them was not the 10,000–square-meter ground, but instead an adventure in outer space.