Driving through the congested streets of Las Vegas during CES can be nauseating. But do you do that with a virtual reality headset blocking your view? Sure, it’s a recipe for disaster.
I don’t have the strongest stomach. Pack dramamine wherever you go. So it was with some trepidation that I agreed to experience The Strip’s morning traffic in the backseat of my car while wearing a VR headset during CES 2023.
But it’s not just a car, it’s not just a VR system either. The car was his 1967 Cadillac DeVille and was remarkable in many ways, but in this context its utter lack of technology. (Worryingly, there were no seatbelts either. Thankfully, they weren’t needed on this day.) The headset was an HTC VIVE Flow, paired with Holoride’s new retrofit his kit. car.
Image credit: Tim Stevens
Holoride’s first launch came last year in partnership with Audi, which began integrating the company’s technology into their vehicles.
Holoride CEO Nils Wollny said that while more OEM partnerships are on the way (“We can’t announce this yet”), the retrofit kit will immediately significantly expand the product’s market reach. says. “It’s an easy way for someone who wants to ride Holoride to equip their car, so they don’t have to have the latest Audi,” said Wollny.
All you need is a pack that includes a place to mount your Holoride device, an accelerometer, a high-quality GPS, and a wireless module to connect to your HTC Vive Flow. Just stick it on your windshield, turn it on and you’re good to go. Data from that module drives the various app experiences Holoride provides. All experiences include some sort of visual cue to prevent motion sickness.
Image credit: Tim Stevens
I sat in the spacious backseat of my Cadillac and sampled what the Retrofit Pack had to offer.
I started with Pixel Ripped 1995: On the Road. This is his Holoride-specific spin-off of indie VR darling. Here we are playing a 2-D platformer on a virtual handheld game system (“Gear Kid Color”). Sitting in the virtual backseat of the virtual car, the virtual parents are exchanging idle banter in front.
By actually driving through traffic, the game simulates the world around you, an endlessly pastoral neighborhood. It doesn’t look like a huge excess of Sin City. The game is basic but fun and much better than looking outside gridlock.
Cloudbreakers: Leaving Haven, a Holoride exclusive roguelike shooter, pilots giant robots through a digital cloud, blasting wave after wave of geometric enemies. Around and below you, vertical and horizontal sweep lines visually represent the street. The in-game action swings left and right as the car turns.
The good news is I didn’t feel any nausea while playing those experiences and more. I got more carsick after 10 minutes in the back seat of a taxi on the way.
The bad news is that for now, no title seems compelling enough to justify $19.99/month or $180/year to access Holoride’s services. He added that he added titles to his library in 2019, adding new content every two weeks at an expected rate.
Many of these simple experiences may not be the answer.In my eyes, the killer app here is media consumption. After finishing the game, you can mirror your phone in VR and jump to your favorite streaming app. Holoride software re-renders virtual landscapes like giant theater screens floating against moving backgrounds.
What’s next? Wollny says he’s working to get smartphones out of that equation. A virtual 180-inch screen.
Retrofit kits are a great way to bring this technology to more people and for Holoride to reach more customers.
But Wollny said adding OEM partnerships is still very important as Holoride is working to make the integration as seamless as possible.
With more and more cars equipped with accelerometers and high-quality GPS, adding support often requires some software.
“We’ve lowered the barriers for automakers to integrate our solution as much as possible because it’s a compelling solution for automakers, for passengers,” Wollny told TechCrunch. “And that’s an additional revenue stream for the mobility data they have. They give us data that we share revenue with them.”
More recurring income and a happy backseat stomach sound like a proper win-win.
