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In-car VR experience launching in Universal Hollywood monster ride


Holoride, an in-car virtual reality (VR) startup, is partnering with Ford and Universal Pictures to launch its technology to the general public.The startup announced Wednesday that it’s offering the VR experience at Universal CityWalk Hollywood in Los Angeles, California beginning Oct. 14 through select dates until Nov. 9. The immersive ride will take place in the back seat of 2020 Ford Explorers.The ride is inspired by Universal Pictures’ 1935 film “Bride of Frankenstein,” with new content created by the Universal Classic Monsters.Universal Pictures has been building virtual reality content for four years, according to Vice President of Technology Partnerships Greg Reed.”VR is typically location-based experiences or home experiences,” Reed said. “This is the first opportunity we’ve had to take the content that we’ve been building and put it in a place where consumers are. “Holoride is a German tech startup that creates extended reality (XR) experience for users by connecting VR content with physical data points from the vehicle in real-time. The data points include acceleration, steering, traffic data, travel route and more, according to the company’s website.”As we’re getting to more connectivity in the vehicle, we’re interested in learning about the types of experiences that our customers are interested in…. really understanding the context of how they may want these experiences,” Albert Choi, Ford’s partnership lead for content digital services, told CNBC.Nils Wollny, Holoride CEO, said the technology could be a game-changer for gaming, entertainment and even education where students can explore ancient Egypt, outer space or even inside the human body.”What we create is basically a revolution in car entertainment because it adapts to travel time, to route,” he said.Wollny said his system could make for more efficient use of time. By synchronizing the car’s movement to visual content, the technology aims to create a more immersive experience with reduced motion sickness.”A lot of people want to work while they’re on the go, but if they get motion sick, they simply can’t,” he said.He suggested that motion-synchronized spatial computing will make workers more productive.The CEO said he hopes to have his software installed in vehicles by 2021. He said Holoride will incentivize car makers to offer the system standard in vehicles and then share a portion of the revenue earned from the content.The company has the potential to work with various automakers, virtual reality headset manufacturers like Facebook’s Oculus and content creators such as Discovery, Disney and Universal.Holoride is currently in a proof-of-concept phase but the company has previously partnered with Audi, which owns a minority stake in Holoride, to conduct demos at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show, according to the company’s website.Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC, Universal Studios and Universal CityWalk Hollywood.

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