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Feann Torr24 Sept 2018
NEWS

Porsche cars to employ video game tech

Augmented-reality to give Porsche owners an edge on road and track via 'virtual apexes'

The world's greatest driving instructor could be a standard feature on every single Porsche in the near future.

That appears to be the objective at Porsche, which has just bought a sizable share of a Swiss start-up that specialises in augmented-reality projectors that could turn a Porsche windscreen into a video game like Gran Turismo.

The $110 million investment in Zurich-based company WayRay could lead to holographic displays showing the ideal apex and perfect line through a corner at any race track in the world.

Indeed, if you thought that race line guidance in Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport video games were akin to 'cheating', you may have strong opinions about Porsche's proposed augmented reality tech as well.

Green means go, yellow means coast, red means brake

According to WayRay, its augmented-reality technology is far superior to "conventional" head-up display systems employed by car-makers from Mazda and Hyundai to Audi and BMW.

The company claims "a significantly smaller projection system which can be installed in any vehicle, regardless of the interior design" is what sets its system apart from the others.

The end result is also a much larger projection that can notionally cover the entire windscreen with data for drivers and passengers via constantly changing and animated displays that not only show the perfect place to brake or turn in on a race track, but present everything from speed limits and navigation to places of interest and service stations for road driving.

Porsche already has an app that would see Mark Webber become your driving coach via autonomous driving tech. Augmented-reality projections would dovetail nicely with such technology.

You can race your mates in augmented reality with 'ghost' cars and never bend a fender

Several car-makers have toyed with the idea of augmented-reality holographic projections, including MINI and Audi, but there's plenty of scope to go beyond convenience and safety enhancements. Range Rover, for example, showed off an augmented-reality system that improves off-roading vision by creating a transparent bonnet.

It's not just WayRay that's pushing the tech either, as Continental is understood to be working with several car brands to enhance the driving experience.

Porsche joins the likes of Hyundai and China's Amazon equivalent, the Alibaba Group, as investors in WayRay. It's not clear which car will be first to benefit from the new holographic projection technology, but any of the Porsche SUVs are likely, as is the new Porsche Taycan EV that arrives in Australia in early 2020.

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"WayRay’s innovative ideas and products have proven to have enormous potential," said Lutz Meschke, Porsche AG's executive board member for finance and IT.

"We are convinced that by joining forces with WayRay we will in future be able to offer our customers solutions to the usual standard expected of Porsche. That is why we have opted to make a strategic investment," said the Porsche financial and IT controller.

With more than 250 staff and offices in Switzerland, China, Russia and the USA – and a new office for Germany opening in 2019 – WayRay is poised to become a trend-setter in the automotive field of head-up displays.

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