Audi Demonstrates In-Car VR At CES With Marvel-Themed E-Tron

Audi has arrived at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with tech that adapts virtual content to the movements of a vehicle in real time.

The German automaker is also debuting the “Marvel’s Avengers: Rocket’s Rescue Run” prototype, created in association with Disney Games and Interactive Experiences. Once your VR glasses are on, the Audi e-tron crossover turns into a ship manned by the Guardians of the Galaxy.

How does it work?

Every movement the car makes in real life is reflected in a virtual experience in real time. So for example if the car drives through a right turn, the VR spaceship you’re on does the same. Then, if the e-tron accelerates, the ship replicates that motion as well – and so on.

As for the actual plot of the game, you’re meant to make your way through an asteroid field together with Rocket Raccoon, the Guardians of the Galaxy character that will appear in Avengers: Endgame this spring.

“Audi, Marvel and Disney Games and Interactive Experiences are celebrating Marvel Studios’ 10th anniversary with an Avengers experience that combines world class content and innovative technology,” stated Mike Goslin, Vice President of Disney Games and Interactive Experiences. “While this CES demo was developed purely in the spirit of exploration and experimentation, we are constantly evaluating emerging technologies to enhance our stories and experiences.”

In order to move forward with this technology, Audi has co-founded a start-up named Holoride, which will then use an open platform to allow automakers and content developers to create additional “extended reality formats” such as arcade games, underwater adventures, space exploration and even educational trips through historical cities.

Holoride will launch this new form of entertainment within the next three years using standard VR glasses. In the long term though, the development of the car-to-X infrastructure could lead to actual traffic events becoming a part of the experience – like how stopping at a light could introduce unexpected obstacles to a game or interrupt a learning program with a pop quiz.