WayRay rubs shoulders with Honda Xcelerator at CES Asia and brings holographic AR displays to Asia’s automobile market
Since 2015, CES Asia has impressed its Nevadian “big brother” with smaller but well-curated and hand-selected lineups. This year, the Consumer Electronics Show in Shanghai wrapped up with over 500 companies, 43,000 attendees, and 1,400 media outlets occupying the 50,000 square meter floor space. “You either have to be innovative or have a well-known brand to be here,” said Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Technology Association, which owns and produces the show. Honda appeared to have checked every box and shook up CES Asia 2018 with its partnering demonstrations at the Honda Xcelerator Showcase.
As part of Silicon Valley-based Honda Innovations, Honda Xcelerator aims to discover new technologies and provide startups with funding and support. At CES Asia, the accelerator cut the ribbon on its new China office by presenting its top three handpicked partners: WayRay, a Swiss holographic AR technology company; Tactual Labs, a Canada-born startup focused on real-time human body pose sensing, and ScentRealm, a China-based “Digital Scent Technology” company.
WayRay first announced its partnership with Honda at CES 2018 in Las Vegas, when showcasing Navion alongside five other participants. “In 2017, we were excited to be selected by Honda Xcelerator amongst hundreds of applicants, and later on in 2018 we presented our products in Las Vegas,” said Andrei Shelomentsev, VP for Strategic Partnerships at WayRay. “Now we are honored to exhibit WayRay’s prototype alongside Honda in Shanghai and excited about the future possibility of integrating our holographic AR display into a Honda vehicle.” Anticipating the top question, “when will the product enter mass production,” Andrei suggests 2020.
The Honda Xcelerator showcase was one of the biggest at CES Asia 2018. Over the course of the show’s three days, the booth saw about 5,000 attendees. People lined up to see WayRay’s holographic AR display prototype in action. The prototype demonstrates how the AR interface reacts to different road situations. Looking through the visor, you can see how the multicolored AR interface syncs to a video imitating a real-world environment. The Holographic AR Display was designed by WayRay to replace conventional HUDs and provide navigation details, ADAS, notifications, and other route-related information via the embedded holographic optical element.
WayRay’s participation at CES Asia contributed to its partnership with Honda and helped the company facilitate new connections in the Asia Pacific after the opening of WayRay’s new office in Shanghai this spring. “For us, Honda Xcelerator has been a great opportunity to show off WayRay’s products in China and gain a foothold in the Asia market,” continued Andrei Shelomentsev. “The Honda booth was at the very heart of the automotive pavilion, surrounded by Kia, Hyundai, Byton, Cadillac, and other major automakers. Standalone startups hardly get this visibility and media coverage within their own booth.”
As long-established Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers are learning to innovate to keep pace with the automotive industry, WayRay is piloting its way to becoming an exclusive provider of holographic AR technologies for cars. This year’s CES Asia demonstrated China’s eagerness to cater to the autonomous-driving revolution and revealed Chinese tech companies’ genuine interest in WayRay’s embedded solutions.
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