In a world where XR is becoming increasingly commonplace, it’s no surprise that new startups are popping up every day with innovative ideas on how to use the technology. One such startup is Holoride (also stylized as “holoride”), a German company that is changing the way we experience entertainment while traveling. By combining navigational and car data with XR, Holoride is able to create “elastic content” that transforms everyday journeys into immersive experiences.
Who is Holoride, and what have they achieved so far?
The project behind Holoride started in 2015 as part of the Autonomous Driving and Digital Business units of car manufacturer Audi. In 2019, Holoride became its own company. The company’s claim is “we’re turning vehicles into moving theme parks,” and they are developing a new technology called elastic content, which takes everyday journeys and transforms them into hyper-immersive experiences by combining navigational and car data with XR. In doing so, Holoride is trying to create an entirely new content and media category.
Nils Wollny, Daniel Profendiner, and Marcus Kuehne are the founders of Holoride. All three of them have a background in Audi’s Autonomous Driving and Digital Business units, which is where the idea for Holoride originated. They have partnerships with major car manufacturers and content creators like Audi, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Ford, Discovery Channel, Disney, and Universal Pictures.
What is elastic content about?
Holoride states that elastic content comprises three aspects: motion-synced, traffic-aware, and location-aware. These three aspects work together to create an immersive experience that can be customized for each individual. Motion-synced content is synchronized with the user’s movement so that they feel like they are a part of the action. Traffic-aware content considers the user’s current surroundings and adjusts the experience accordingly. Location-aware content uses GPS data to provide a more realistic experience by incorporating the user’s location into the story.
When looking beyond these aspects, Holoride focuses on merging layers of experience to establish an elastic experience for entertainment, with the content being separated into three different layers: the world layer, the 2D layer, and the vehicle layer. The world layer is the foundation of the elastic experience and is anchored in reality. It consists of the physical environment and objects that the user interacts with. The 2D layer is a virtual space that is projected onto the world layer. This is where the XR content is experienced. The vehicle layer completes the elastic experience by providing contextual data such as speed, location, and direction.
Will this work for people who get travel sick?
For some, gaming, watching a movie, or reading can make them feel uncomfortable when traveling. Others can get travel sick (motion sick) even without doing anything at all except for sitting in a vehicle. Instead of getting more nausea and suffering from feeling unwell, the proposition of Holoride is not to make this worse but to prevent feeling sick on a ride. They do this by matching what you see in the VR headset with what they feel from the trip. For example, if the car is going around a corner, then the XR content will also turn around the corners. The idea behind it is that if your eyes and body feel like they are doing the same thing, you are less likely to get travel sick.
Ride token and NFTs
Holoride is also working on a social cryptocurrency called Ride token and NFTs. The idea behind the social currency is to reward people for sharing their XR content. NFTs are non-fungible tokens that can be used to represent ownership of digital assets. Adding a token and NFT trade to the Holoride solution was unnecessary. It did not add much value to the experience, but because alternative currencies and NFT trade are currently hyped subjects, this might support their social media and marketing efforts. The solution concept of Holoride is fine on its own and should not require any such segues to remain relevant and profitable.
YouTube: Holoride – Turning vehicles into moving theme parks
Photo credit: All media shown has been provided by Holoride for press usage.
