Microsoft has teamed up with Volkswagen to make its mixed reality headset tech work better in moving vehicles such as cars. As part of this effort, the company has unveiled a new “moving platform” mode for its HoloLens 2. This will allow people to get a holographic display of various details while driving. Here’s what this is all about.
HoloLens typically uses visible light cameras and an inertial measurement unit to measure motion. However, the measurements are not reliable in moving environments since it sees a stable environment, similar to what we experience as motion sickness. Considering this limitation, the team developed an algorithm that models the discrepancies between the sensors and allows HoloLens to continue tracking.
“We connected a positioning system that tracks the location of the vehicle. This way we were able to also place 3D elements such as information on points of interest outside of the car. This opens up completely new possibilities to not only display holograms within the driver’s forward-facing field of view but also wherever the user wearing the glasses is looking,” says Volkswagen’s Michael Wittkämper.
