HTC VIVE and Holoride debut in-car entertainment glasses. Audi-backed tech startup and HTC launch XR on-the-go for VIVE Flow users at Mobile World Congress 2022.
BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 25, 2022 – Holoride, a startup dedicated to the advancement of in-car entertainment, today announced a partnership with HTC VIVE, the leading virtual reality (VR) platform and ecosystem. Holoride’s extended reality (XR) technology will be used in VIVE Flow, a compact and lightweight immersive glasses device that will transport users from the backseat of a car to an imaginative world filled with content around every bend, incorporating both VR and classic 2D content. In the second half of 2022, VIVE Flow will be the first holoride-ready VR device for serial integration in cars, as part of the company’s market debut.
By combining XR material with real-time motion, position, and navigational data from the car and its surroundings, holoride creates hyper-immersive experiences. Riders may move and maneuver through virtual worlds with the same intuitive motions as they would with traditional VR devices with VIVE Flow. Individual users can also view 2D content on a virtual, motion-synchronized cinema screen using holoride’s advanced cinema mode.
“holoride is on a mission to create exciting in-vehicle experiences for passengers to travel the Metaverse, and that starts with putting our technology in the hands – or on the heads – of riders,” said Nils Wollny, CEO and co-founder of holoride. “VIVE Flow is the ideal device for on-the-go XR, so we are thrilled to be partnering with HTC VIVE to give riders direct access to holoride. The glasses’ sleek, portable design means riders can enjoy a fun and connected experience anywhere they go.”
VIVE Flow is the ideal vacation partner. It’s comfortable to wear and lightweight, weighing only 189g, so riders can simply transfer the glasses to and from the automobile. VIVE Flow is easy to put on, take off, and fold down into a small footprint thanks to its dual-hinged construction and soft face gasket. It also provides a cinematic screen on which to consume the material, whether it’s gaming, TV, or movies.
“VIVE Flow can fit in the palm of your hand and still deliver a breathtaking experience,” said Shen Ye, Global Head of Hardware at HTC VIVE. “Paired with holoride’s impressive tech, you’ll be able to turn car rides into virtual amusement parks. We’re very excited to work with holoride in shaping the future of passenger entertainment.”
VIVE Flow integrated with holoride’s XR technology will be on display and available for demo as part of the HTC VIVE exhibition booth (Hall 7, stand 7A40) at Mobile World Congress taking place in Barcelona, Spain Feb. 28 – Mar. 3.
About holoride:
holoride creates an entirely new media category for passengers by connecting Extended Reality (XR) content with data points from the vehicle in real-time. These data points include physical feedback, like acceleration and steering, traffic data, as well as travel route and time. holoride technology provides a new type of immersion into any kind of VR content, creating a breathtaking, immersive experience, and significantly reducing motion sickness.
The tech startup was founded at the end of 2018 in Munich, Germany by Nils Wollny, Marcus Kuehne, Daniel Profendiner and Audi, who holds a minority stake in the startup.
In April 2021, holoride raised €10 million in its Series A funding round led by Terranet AB, earning the company a €30 million valuation. That same year, holoride won the prestigious SXSW Pitch and was also named Best in Show. It has been hailed “Best of CES 2019” four times, recognized as one of the “100 Best Inventions of 2019” by TIME Magazine, and is part of the global innovation platform “STARTUP AUTOBAHN powered by Plug and Play”.
SOURCE holoride