There has been an amazing announcement from BMW recently. According to the PC Magazine, BMW will be the first automotive company to include a mixed reality system made by a video game company in their products.
As announced, BMW will start featuring the HTC Vive virtual reality headset into some elements of the car design process. The virtual relity field is progressing fast, and the new technology is a lot more developed today than the one some automotive manufacturers are using. That way, BMW will be sure to follow the latest technology and offer the top trends in this field to its customers.
The collaboration will save lots of time and effort for BMW as HTC Vive VR equipment is already developed – BMW’s engineers will have to test and modify it, but not build from stracth.
Even though BMW has been using some form of virtual reality systems for almost 30 years now, the field is in constant progress and from today’s point of view, limitations in the past can easily be seen.
The new functions are yet to be tested, so the designers should get a better picture of how would the final product look and feel like. Virtual test drives of new models could then be done without ever leaving the building!
The implementation of the VR headsets will surely speed up the prototyping process, which could, in a long run, result in new designs being revealed quicker – a good way for a company to always stay competitive with hot new products!