BMW i Augmented Reality Visualiser available in Singapore on new ASUS ZenFone AR

BMW Asia and ASUS Global are excited to announce the BMW i Augmented Reality (AR) Visualiser will be available for download on Google Play in Singapore with the official launch of the ASUS ZenFone AR on 5 August 2017. Powered by Tango, Google’s smartphone augmented reality technology, customers can explore and pre-configure their ideal BMW i3 or i8 any time, any place.

BMW i is the first automotive brand in the world to offer customers an interactive, 3-D augmented reality experience of their products. After downloading the app on the new ASUS ZenFone AR, customers can visualise and experience the BMW i3 or i8 products, using augmented reality to create a 3-D image which can be explored interactively: the customer can open the boot or the doors, even getting “inside” the car to take a closer look at the interior. It’s also possible to experiment with different interior and exterior colours, trim materials and a variety of wheel rims.

“Our customers are extremely tech savvy and it’s important we transform the way we interact with them, even before they enter our showroom,” said Preeti Gupta, Director of Corporate Affairs, BMW Group Asia. “With the BMW i Visualiser, customers can explore our products in a truly interactive and fun way, making the online-offline experience more compelling. Our vehicles are emotional products and to get that emotional feeling, you really need to experience them.”

“Google’s Tango AR platform demonstrates the exciting visual accuracy and power of Augmented Reality to transform the way we shop in the very near future. The BMW i Visualiser running on powerful smartphones like the ASUS ZenFone AR are a great demonstration of what that future will look like,” said Andrew Chan, Senior PR Manager, ASUS Global.

The BMW i Visualiser App is the latest innovation in the BMW Group’s Future Retail programme, which began rolling out around three years ago and which has transformed the customers’ experience of buying a car. Many significant elements of Future Retail, such as the Product Genius or the Virtual Product Presenter, have set new benchmarks for the industry.

The BMW i Visualiser was designed and developed by Accenture, and its customer experience agency Accenture Interactive, integrating BMW i picture data of the vehicles into an app which uses Google’s Tango AR technology. In order to keep the user experience as intuitive and simple as possible, the app is a visualiser instead of a full configurator, where features such as interior and exterior colours or wheel rims can be altered at a touch of the screen. Once the visualisation is complete, the customer can save the data and share it with others, via email or social media.

The Asus ZenFone AR is the world’s first smartphone that is Tango enabled and Daydream-ready. Tango is Google’s AR technology platform that requires a set of sensors and computer-vision software by Google to enable smartphone augmented reality. Daydream is Google’s platform for high-quality, mobile virtual reality and supports Daydream VR apps. Paired with the Daydream View headset and controller, ZenFone AR will be able to let users explore new worlds, kick back in their personal VR cinema, and play games that put them at the center of action. The ZenFone AR also features a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor that has been customized to run Tango, and is also the world’s first smartphone to have a massive 8GB of RAM. The ASUS ZenFone AR will be available from 5 August 2017 in Singapore from ASUS Concept Stores, M1 Shops and online retailer Hachi.Tech. Singapore will get the ZenFone AR variant with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage with a suggested retail price of SG$1,198 (excluding operator discounts).