During their 2015 Future Talk event, Mercedes-Benz brought engineers, designers, scientists and journalists into a discussion about virtual reality.
Of course, this isn’t today’s virtual reality we’re talking about. In fact, the panel discussed the virtualization of the vehicle interior as a new perception horizon in the mobility of the 21st Century. In other words, finding a means of transport between reality and cyberspace within the car of the future. Wouldn’t that be something?
This year’s Future Talk experts included Anke Kleinschmit, head of corporate research at Daimler, Ralf Lamberti, User Interaction & Connected Car at Daimler, Cade McCall, a psychologist at the Max-Planck Institute for cognitive and neuro-sciences in Leipzig, Alexander Mankowsky, future researcher at Daimler and Prof. Erich Schöls, interaction designer and scientific head of the Steinbeis research center for design and systems in Würzburg.
According to Kleinschmit, virtualization of the automobile is an important part of Daimler’s digitization strategy. “Virtuality makes in-vehicle digitisation directly perceivable. This makes it one of the key technologies for the mobility of the 21st Century. The car of the future will also open up a virtual space for its driver, becoming a “third place” between the home and the workplace.” He also added that “The car of the future will become a mobile living space which can connect travellers to their surroundings: social, informative, anecdotal. The surroundings can tell the traveller stories or act as a playing surface.”
If that sounds a bit, well, dangerous, it’s because you’re probably still thinking about a future where we drive our own cars and not the other way around.
Mercedes-Benz came up with some pretty neat ideas in this department, such as how passengers might get to see their current surroundings in daylight, even thought they are traveling at night, as well as making billboards and noise protection embankments disappear for an unobstructed view of their surroundings.
On a more psychological note, Cade McCall pointed out that “It is initially unimportant to the brain whether it is processing actual or virtual information. If the corresponding conditions are met, we easily perceive virtual environments as real and enter into them.”
Prof. Erich Schöls however did point out that virtual technologies still have to overcome certain acceptance barriers. “Although extended reality applications are increasingly establishing themselves in industry, culture and society, many people still feel slightly unsure about immersion into completely artificial environments”
As future tech becomes more advanced and most of all, more useful, people will most certainly come to accept it as the new norm. Still, we might be decades away from a truly seamless virtual experience.
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