Back in November, luxury vehicle manufacturer Audi teased a project with Disney to create “new media type.” With the annual Consumer Electronics Show kicking off in Las Vegas, Nevada, The Hollywood Reporter has details on the project: an in-car virtual reality experience.
- As THR reports, Audi announced the launch of a new company called Holoride that will focus on creating virtual reality experiences for car passengers.
- To demo this technology, the company worked with Disney to debut Marvel's Avengers: Rocket's Rescue Run.
- From THR: “To see the experience, Marvel's Avengers: Rocket’s Rescue Run, journalists were driven to a racetrack about 20 minutes outside of the Las Vegas Strip, where they were invited to sit in the back of Audi’s new e-tron electric vehicle and given an Oculus headset. During the next five minutes, as the vehicle sped up to as much as 90 miles per hour while making two loops around the track, the passengers were asked to help Rocket on a rescue mission and expected to shoot at enemies along the way.”
- They went on to describe how the gameplay was influenced by the car’s actions.
- For example, they note that, when the car came to a stop, the game paused to take a call from Iron Man.
- Additionally, curves the vehicle took were incorporated into the game.
- Holoride calls this technology “elastic content” and it will make every ride/game experience different.
Holoride’s Gameplan
- Those hoping to try Marvel's Avengers: Rocket’s Rescue Run for themselves may be out of luck as the game will not be made commercially available.
- However, Disney Games and Interactive Experiences VP Mike Goslin says he hopes to work with this technology platform in the future and deliver Disney IP to fans in a new way.
- Incidentally, while some had expected the “new media type” would involve self-driving cars, Audi’s head of digital business and now Holoride CEO Nils Wollny says the company first wants to focus on rideshare passengers.
- He told THR, “Today, Audi builds cars for drivers. We really want to start right here, right now. No one knows about the autonomous future but the backseat passenger is already a really attractive target for many big markets.”
What They’re Saying
- Mike Goslin, VP Disney Games and Interactive Experiences: “They’re developing their technology at the same time that we’re trying to figure out how to do entertainment in this kind of environment… We’re very interested in the long-term future here [of this entertainment experience].”
Note: a previous version of this article referred to Audi and Disney working on this project as a “partnership.” It is not.