Our first AMA session this year took place together with The Dude and his awesome Dude Army! We received many great questions from the community and enjoyed this one a lot.
In case you missed the session or want to read through the answers again, check out our transcript!
Miami Disco: Welcome, @NilsWollny!
Nils Wollny: Hi! Thanks for having me!
Miami Disco: Thank you for taking the time to talk to us about Holoride. It’s a pleasure to have you here with us. Before that, though, why not introduce yourself? Give us a rundown of your journey so far, before you were a part of holoride. 😊
Nils: Sure. I’m the CEO and co-founder of holoride. My two co-founders and I worked for Audi in digital business, immersive technologies, and autonomous driving development.
After having the idea for holoride and working on the project within Audi for a while, we convinced the Board of Management to spin-out the technology and make it accessible for the whole automotive industry. That was back at the end of 2018.
Miami Disco: I see. And just a year later, you guys would go on to win a ton of accolades at CES 2019. It just shows how promising holoride really is. Thank you for allowing us to take that peek behind the curtain 👏 Now, on to the project itself. How would you describe holoride as briefly as possible to someone who has never heard of it before?
And what factors led to its conception? As in, why virtual reality, and why cars? What made you guys decide to “gamefy” the car riding experience? Some loaded questions here, but we’re all dying to know!
Nils: Haha — sure!
In short: holoride takes everyday journeys and transforms them into hyper-immersive experiences by combining navigational and car data with Extended Reality (XR). The technology has the power to change backseat entertainment forever, and opens a new layer of immersion in games and educational content.
We’re changing in-car entertainment and the passenger experience for good. And, along the way, we’re building a vibrant and highly engaging ecosystem that connects automotive, media and tech.
Have a look at our brand trailer
Enjoy 🍿 While you’re watching the trailer, I’ll continue to answer the other questions 😉
As for the second part of your question, we’ve set out with a clear purpose: To make transit time count. Back at Audi and together with my two co-founders, we realized that entertaining yourself while commuting is not easy. That’s when we started thinking about how we could solve that problem.
Miami Disco: 🤩
Nils: We built a prototype, tested it with selected partners, received great feedback, and at some point spun out the project to give it a real shot. And here we are! 💪
It still feels surreal but we’re super thankful for the bold move and trust Audi has put in us as well as the ongoing support on all our endeavors — incl. getting into blockchain and launching our very own token $RIDE.
On to your VR question and why in cars:
Have you ever experienced a dull ride where you feel that time is just being wasted? We did! And I’m sure many others here did as well. On top of that the car has been a closed ecosystem for media companies and content creators due to a number of factors with different manufacturer standards being one of the major roadblocks.
At holoride we believe that time is the most precious resource and that’s why we want to turn transit time into valuable time. We aim to make transit time count and people on the go smarter, happier, and even more productive.
The combination of VR and real motion, haptic feedback, creates a fascinating, hyper-realistic experience. Just imagine the different worlds you can immerse yourself in; whether it’s flying a spaceship through unknown galaxies, exploring the deep sea while diving with whales, or learning more about dinosaurs when traveling back in time to prehistoric days 🦖 Now think about how you can gamify these experiences with a ride-to-play-to-earn mechanism in combination with the RIDE token as a driver for engagement.
You see, I could probably go on for hours about why the car is such an exciting entertainment space and how holoride is turning into a creative canvas with infinite possibilities! 😉
Miami Disco: It feels like everything went just right for Holoride, from a simple concept all the way to reality. Shoutout to Audi as well for their support! And shoutout to you guys for thinking outside the box with this 👍 But what made you and the team decide to adopt blockchain technology for holoride? Was this also Audi’s idea?
And still on the topic of tech: could you tell us more about Extended Reality (XR)? What makes it different from traditional VR? Also, on your website, there’s mention of something called “Elastic SDK”, or Elastic Content. What does that entail?
Nils: Really good questions!
To your first one: I have published an article today, since many people did ask me this question lately: https://medium.com/holoride/why-we-have-chosen-blockchain-to-power-the-holoride-ecosystem-3728ec6d7034
It wasn’t Audi’s idea — however, they were great supporters of our endevour.
On to the next one and to clarify: XR stands for Extended Reality. It is a collective term for Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Mixed Reality (MR). VR is the full immersion of a user within a computer-generated “virtual” environment. AR is the enhancement of the real-world by overlaying or placing computer-generated material/objects in it. A good example that many of you might know would be Pokémon Go. And MR is a combination of the two.
About our Elastic SDK: We officially introduced and released our Elastic Software Development Kit (Elastic SDK) at this year’s Game Developers Conference 2021 in collaboration with Unity. The Elastic SDK is a powerful toolset for developers and creators that helps to design, test, and deliver holoride experiences. It allows developers and creators to layer the world around them and build fascinating worlds for immersive in-vehicle experiences.
Check out this blog article from our friends at Unity if you’re interested about some of the functionalities that our software offers: https://blog.unity.com/manufacturing/make-in-car-games-and-xr-experiences-with-holoride-elastic-sdk
And, this is a deep dive but this video from our GDC presentation provides all the exciting functionalities our Elastic SDK has to offer. 🍿
Miami Disco: For those in the chat that don’t know: Unity is a tool made for creating a lot of video games, including Cuphead, RUST and Escape from Tarkov.
Nils: At the same time, this toolset is introducing a completely new media category: We call it Elastic Content.
Our vehicle localization software syncs content with the vehicle’s motion, position, and map data in real time — creating an entirely new level of immersion. You start to feel what you see!
We’re calling it “elastic” because it reflects the content’s adaptive behavior and nonlinear characteristics. Simply put: It allows passengers to enjoy constantly changing experiences that adjust to their route.
Miami Disco: I know for a fact that you guys also went to great pains to ensure the headsets didn’t cause nausea or dizziness, just wanted to point that out as well 😄
Nils: Yes, indeed! The real-time sync reduces the effects of motion sickness for many people. We put a lot effort into this.
Miami Disco: Moving on, I wanted to focus on the economic aspects of holoride now. I know that at CES 2019, you partnered with the likes of Marvel to produce some tailor-made rides based on their IPs, so there’s a lot of economic incentive there. But that aside, how does holoride generate revenue?
How can content creators participate in holoride’s ecosystem, and how can THEY generate income from it? How can common riders and drivers participate too?
And finally, could you tell us about the RIDE token? What are its use cases? Where can we buy it? When can we start staking it, and how long will the staking last?
(Forgive me for the barrage of questions, I just want to make sure we’re being thorough 😅😅😅)
Nils: We are creating a first-of-its-kind media platform for immersive XR content that is made for moving vehicles. We want to monetize travel time.
We will be generating revenue by selling access to the immersive in-car experiences on our platform. Additionally, in-experience purchases will create additional opportunities. We share the revenue with our ecosystem partners — namely car manufacturers and content creators. By this, we are opening a completely new market that promises a captive audience and additional revenue streams for our partners and key industries.
Regarding creator participation: We have built the holoride Creator Space. It is a platform for exchange. A resource for developers, artists, and enthusiasts alike. It offers all the tools you need for your holoride development journey and helps you build contextual, immersive experiences for passengers. Initially, we will curate and publish the content to ensure quality for passengers. Similar to how app stores are doing it before you can download your app. However, our approach will be more community-driven!
On the Creator Space you will have access to our Elastic SDK and a variety of functionalities, documentation, and tutorials. You can learn more about it here: https://www.holoride.com/create
Regarding rider participation: We’re working on a manufacturer agnostic approach. Our ultimate goal is that holoride will be available in every car in the near future, regardless of the brand or model. The same applies for the XR headset. As a user you would need an XR headset or a smart device that runs the holoride app. The app will connect with the car and allow the headset to communicate with the vehicle.
Combot: 🌟 Nils Wollny | holoride CEO has reached level 2!
Nils: Our software is doing the magic by translating the car data into motion-synchronized content that allows you to immerse yourself into the experience.
Cool, I have reached level 2 😉
Miami Disco: Can we get much higher? 🎵
Nils: Now, let’s talk about RIDE: The RIDE token will be essential for building a vibrant and sustainable economy for the holoride ecosystem. RIDE is a utility token, giving passengers, creators, and our community exclusive benefits in holoride’s ecosystem. We have a few initial functionalities in mind and will be adding further utilities in the near future. For now, these are some of the utilities that we have thought of:
- Ecosystem governance
- Grant program
- Create, sell, and buy in-experience items
- Community benefits
- Partner royalties
If more details about each functionality read this medium article here: https://medium.com/holoride/ride-token-details-771089420fd2
The RIDE token is currently listed on the Maiar Exchange and since this week, the Elrond mainnet has been integrated into the Coin98 DeFi App, which means our RIDE token is now available in the Coin98 mobile app. The RIDE token will of course be listed on further exchanges, I can’t disclose any details yet. Our ultimate goal is to open $RIDE for a wider audience.
Regarding Staking: We are currently finalizing our staking program with Elrond and will be sharing details shortly about how you can put your $RIDE to work 😉
Miami Disco: All right! Props for picking the Maiar Exchange, we’re all huge fans of Elrond here 😊 Do you have a roadmap that you could share, btw?
I know you guys have some really cool partnerships in the works as well, including Hyundai. https://twitter.com/holoride/status/1480887829026816005
Nils: 2022 is a big year for holoride as we are preparing for our market launch in the second half of the year. Here’s our high-level roadmap:
We’ll give frequent updates.
Miami Disco: There’s a lot to cover here, but why not let the community ask their own questions now? Are you ready for the community round, Nils?
Nils: YES! Bring it on!
Miami Disco: Thank you for your questions, everyone. @NilsWollny Do your best! 🔥
Community Question 1: ❇️ Will the holoride products be available for use by anyone with a vehicle and the necessary equipment, or will this whole service be under the domain of a travel or car company in some location? I would like to know this, in which countries will it be available? How will we be able to get one of the virtual reality glasses? How much will it cost?
Nils: We are aming at private passenger cars first. However, we want to make it available in as many cars/brands as possible. At the beginning we need to have a regional focus (North America, Europe, Asia), before expanding further. We don’t manufacturer our own glasses. Our application will run on off-the-shelf-devices. The price of the service will be published in a few months.
Community Question 2: ⛓️⛓️How does Holoride technology work in accessing data points with the vehicle’s central computing entity? How is Holoride data shared with the automobile network? How will the technology you create to share this data with the automobile network be used in the future?
Nils: Our vehicle localization software syncs content with the vehicle’s motion, position, and map data in real time — creating an entirely new level of immersion. You start to feel what you see!
To create such a real-time immersive experience, holoride combines data from several in-vehicle systems, from the accelerometers and gyroscopes that make up a car’s inertial measurement unit to its navigation system.
Based on this information, it builds a virtual world based on what they refer to as elastic content, that is, content that responds to the vehicle‘s actual behavior in real-time.
Community Question 3: ✅ Holoride is creating something really interesting for travelers, however I would like to know about the partners who are supporting and contributing to this idea. Can you name some of them? On your website I saw the AUDI logo. Do you really have Audi as one of your main partners? How did you achieve this partnership?
Nils: We’ve had the pleasure to work with amazing partners and global brands in the last couple of years. From an automotive perspective including Audi, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Ford. But we also partnered up with media companies like Disney, Universal Pictures, and Discovery Channel.
And there are many more, some of which I can not disclose at the moment.
To see some results out of these collaborations, you should check out some of our past showcases such as Bride of Frankenstein:
Community Question 4: With this extraordinary concept, were there any automotive or gaming partners who participated in the development of this XR model? @NilsWollny
Nils: Initially Audi. However, we have shared the concept in a very early stage with many studios and industry experts to get their feedback. We were very fortunate to work with the best of the best!
Community Question 5: When do you thonk the Staking will be available?Nils: We plan to introduce a powerful staking program in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned for more info. We will share all details shortly.
So many great questions! Thank you!
Miami Disco: That’s a wrap! Nils, could you drop some links to your socials before you go?
Nils: Thank you for having me, folks! It was a pleasure! RIDE on! 🚀
💬 Telegram (https://t.me/holoride)
🕊 Twitter (https://twitter.com/holoride)
📖 Medium (https://medium.com/holoride)
🔵 LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/holoride)
🌐 Website (https://www.holoride.com/)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nils_Wollny
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nwollny/
Miami Disco: All right! Nils, thank you so much for today. It’s been real, it’s been fun, it’s been real fun. We look forward to hearing more about holoride in the future, and maybe even using it ourselves! Cheers!
Nils: Thank you! RIDE on! 🚀
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”.
