Your Driving Experience For All
Do you have something similar to a favorite corner? A section of road where you love the acceleration possibilities and which you would like to drive every day? With Virtual Roads, Porsche is working on making this possible, even if your favorite route is in Hawaii but you’re based in Lüneburg.
What distinguishes a favorite route? Sometimes it’s hard to explain in words, even as a car enthusiast. It’s that slight bend after the long straight, the possibility to shift up at a certain point, to drive even faster, in an even more racy way. Much easier than words, it helps to drive the track itself. But if it is located in Iceland, or if it is a racetrack that is only accessible to an exclusive group of participants, this is difficult. However, Porsche and the Swiss start-up Way Ahead Technologies are currently working on a solution. Virtual Roads is designed to allow users to simply record their favorite driving routes with a smartphone, and then transfer it to the virtual world.
For this process, which is much simpler than the digitization of routes using laser-scan technology that was used previously, the smartphone is simply mounted in the center of the windshield with a suitable mount and the desired stage is driven. The specially-developed software then uses AI and a content library to convert the route into 3D within a manageable period of time — depending on the complexity, it takes less than an hour for eight kilometers, which is less than one per cent of the time required by a conventional digitalization process. This process is not limited to Porsche vehicles, but is open to all models. Only prior calibration is necessary. Currently, the project is still in an early prototype phase. In the long term, it should be possible to record every route well, regardless of how it is driven. Nevertheless, the app fosters driving safety, which is an important concern for Porsche. Moderate and constant driving will result in better results with a higher level of details and accuracy.
Favorite route for everyone
At the same time, Virtual Roads is still in the testing phase, also takes into account the pitfalls of such a digitization process and ensures data protection. For example, the software automatically recognizes people and vehicles that have been recorded and does not transfer them to the digital version. The end result of this simplifying, yet technically complex, digitization process is a mature version of the current favorite route in which road texture and environment have been transferred 1–1. This can then be relived on the smartphone or in the driving simulator at any time and even shared with the community or selected friends. As a special highlight, the result can also be used for racing games, like for example Assetto Corsa. This lets you re-experience the thrill of the route, in an even sportier way in the digital world, together with or maybe against your friends. Creating and sharing virtual experiences with others, that are hard or impossible to get in the real world — that is what Virtual Roads is all about.
About this publication: Where innovation meets tradition. There’s more to Porsche than sports cars — we are developing new digital products and services — always with our customers in focus. On our Medium blog, we tell these stories. It’s about our #nextvisions, emerging technologies, and the people that drive our digital journey. If you want to know more, follow us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
