The automotive industry is adopting augmented and virtual reality to provide consumers with advancements.

As technology intrudes automotive industry, peoples’ expectation for advanced travel vehicles keeps increasing. Consumers demand to be offered with a plethora of options in almost every segment. To tackle the challenge of growing needs, the automotive sector is embracing advanced technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality. These emerging technologies are transforming everything in automobile starting from manufacturing to marketing and selling of vehicles.

Even though autonomous and electric cars are the buzzwords in the automotive radar, the traditional passenger vehicles with futuristic technology are still at high preference for customers. Despite seeing many rough years and stagnated sales during the lockdown across the globe due to the pandemic outbreak, the automotive industry still manages to contribute a big part to the economic sector. Car manufacturers are continuously trying to put the current technologies to use in order to deliver customer-friendly vehicles. As innovations become mainstream, virtual and augmented reality is advancing rapidly to provide a competitive edge. Major car manufacturers are also adopting AR and VR technologies to enhance driver experience, replace long and complex manuals, help warehouse employees become more efficient and automate the training process.

AR and VR are not just triggering sophisticated solutions, but are also hosting safety and innovation features presented with every new car. Both augmented and virtual reality has its own set of applications that complements the automotive industry. Virtual reality creates an artificial world, blocking out reality, while augmented reality ‘augments’ actual real-world experience with enhancements like graphics or data, presented on top of views of the actual environment. According to Statista, the global market for automotive AR and VR solutions is expected to reach about US$673 billion by 2025 with an astonishing CAGR of 175.7% during the forecast period between 2018 and 2025. Henceforth, GlobalTech Outlook brings you a list of AR and VR applications that enhances automotive industry.

Virtual reality showrooms

Car buyers always look for various options and comfort. However, this can’t be displayed altogether when you are visiting a physical showroom. Virtual reality makes the virtual showroom idea possible. The virtual showroom displays a VR environment where the consumer will be able to customise any make or model in exactly the way you are going to buy it. With the development of VR headsets, this technology can be brought to any showroom with minimum cost.

Real-time analytics and display of results

Augmented reality plays a pivotal role in car manufacturing units. AR devices have the lenient feature to be combined with advanced image recognition technologies, computing power, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, internal databases, and artificial intelligence to create powerful manufacturing and analysing machines. The dual technology-powered mechanism gets the ability to look over and monitor real-time temperatures of machines during manufacturing and maintenance. It also helps collect and analyse data, which eventually detects problems in the unfinished cars.

Virtual car simulation

Let us take a moment to think about what car drivers handle while driving the vehicles. He/she has to manage the accelerator, change gear, step on the brake, and monitor the steering, while also looking for road traffic conditions and signals. It is making things more hectic. But virtual reality can be a saviour at such instances. The real-time data like warning signals, speed limit, engine status, navigation, etc. are displayed on the windshield, making driving far easier.

Heads Up Displays (HUD)

Heads Up Display (HUD) is a transparent display that is mounted on to the dashboard of the car that displays crucial information and data without diverting the driver from their usual viewing position. This technology has been used in the aircraft since the 1980s but got adopted in the automotive industry recently. It displays operating data like velocity, engine speed, fuel consumption and similar items.