VR on board!
Virtual Reality on board of KLM
We have talked about how virtual reality has the potential to revolutionise many aspects of our life, going way further than just gaming. It can be a powerful tool for business, for design work, for architecture, even for health. VR is a powerful tool for visualisation and immersion — a truth that Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) have used to their benefit in employee training.
Taking staff from a variety of departments, KLM designed a study in cooperation with the NLR Air Transport Safety Institute in which employees take on the role of passengers to study the behaviour of the common passenger.
It might sound fun and exciting…
Delving into a new world virtual world to explore new surroundings and new adventures far away from your real self that is sitting in the passenger seat, the cabin crew is serving you refreshments and the captain is waving as he is giving you weather updates… You might even take a stroll down the corridors of your connecting airport to make sure you do not get lost on your way to the transfer gate. All nice and squishy. And so convenient.
But wait-
You’re in a different world. One devoid of danger and turbulence. You might not hear the captain’s prior warning. You might also just be too caught up in your virtual surroundings to follow the orders. When the turbulence hits, you might be distracted, disconcerted and slightly confused because it does not conform with the warm feeling that your virtual bubble gives you.
— — — — — —
KLM’s project shows that one of VR’s inherent strengths is also a weakness: Getting immersed in your surroundings can be desired, but also dangerous. VR is only just breaking ground for common use. That seems only natural given the technology’s convincing powers of interaction, immersion and impact. It would be fatal, however, to disregard some of the weak points that come with that: Losing the connection to your real self, getting engrossed in a new world that cancels out all which is undesired, but necessary in the real world; be it fear, attention or focus to your surroundings.
It is our goal and mission to create a VR platform which is fun, social, fair and engaging — but also safe and beneficial. We will work hard to create a new world which does not ignore or merely cancel out the understanding of problems in the real world, but which tackles them head on to find new and sustainable solutions to these problems.
We are looking forward to sharing with you how our journey continues from now on!
