Passengers in cars often get bored. Holoride uses real-time data during the journey, to create a completely new kind of entertainment program for passengers by means of artificial intelligence. The extended reality experience is even said to reduce travel sickness. The founders reveal more about their XR on-board entertainment program in our 7 questions.
Munich startup: who are you and what do you do? Please introduce yourselves briefly!
Holoride: service munich! We, that’s daniel profendiner (38, CTO), marcus kuhne (44, CXO) and nils wollny (38, CEO). together we have founded holoride and want to turn boring travel time into an exciting adventure ride.
People often talk about fate and destiny when they find each other. It wasn’t quite so dramatic in our case after all. But one can describe it quite as a beautiful coincidence. All three of us have worked for the company with the four rings in its logo, in some cases in completely different areas. Marcus and daniel were then actually linked up by the patent department of audi AG, because they both applied for the almost identical patent independently of each other and at the same time – so much to say: it had something to do with holoride.
Partnerships with audi and disney
While daniel at the time was looking at the topic of using immersive technologies in vehicles mainly from a technical and conceptual point of view, marcus as the person responsible for VR / AR strategy and nils as the head of digital business also looked at the economic side in great detail and quickly realized that only a manufacturer-independent approach has a chance of scaling and commercial relevance. With this in mind and accompanied by great enthusiasm for the technology, the three pushed ahead with the project in every spare minute and were finally able to successfully present it to the management board of audi and the VW Group.
In late 2018, the spin-off came to realize a manufacturer-agnostic solution. We then officially presented holoride to the world together with the two dream partners audi and disney at CES 2019 in las vegas and caused a stir.
Munich startup: what problem does your startup solve?
Holoride: travel time is often wasted time. For this reason, we have set ourselves the goal of making car trips more exciting, especially for passengers. Because: it is estimated that there are over 1 billion daily journeys in private vehicles worldwide in which at least one passenger is on board as well as the driver. Due to a lack of employment opportunities, these journeys are unused time and a necessary evil for most passengers. The driving experience is still very much designed around the driver, and today’s media offerings are only partially suitable for in-car use, as their enjoyment is severely limited – z.B. Due to small screens or formats that do not fit optimally to the travel time. In addition, many people suffer from travel sickness because their sensory impressions are confused when they look at their smartphone or tablet during the journey.
We solve this problem by using iot, AI& Fusing XR into a new experiential format. Sounds complicated? It is, to be honest. Derived from algorithms for autonomous driving, holoride software uses real-time data to provide information about a vehicle’s position, navigation route, speed, and steering, braking and acceleration behavior (iot). This data is intelligently (AI) linked to highly immersive display technologies such as virtual, mixed or augmented reality – so-called "extended reality" (XR). Thanks to a nearly exact synchronization of image and motion, the quality of experience of the consumed content is massively increased, as the real vehicle movements become part of the virtual experience and the length of the content is based on the expected driving time. In addition, it significantly reduces the symptoms of travel sickness, of which around. 2/3 of all passengers are affected.
Photo: holoride
The holoride software makes it possible to offer a new media category: "elastic content". Geared for in-vehicle use, content adapts to travel time, movement and context of the vehicle – for a highly immersive experience and significantly reduced symptoms of motion sickness. the effect of the coupling explained again simply: if the car moves to the left, you move in the same direction in the virtual environment. If you stop in front of a crosswalk, a bright blue chick walks over it instead of a passerby. And the onset of precipitation – detected by the rain sensor – could pelt your spaceship as a meteor shower. Cool, or? Because we think so too! These are, of course, considerations that don’t necessarily have to be realized, but who knows??
For the first time, vehicle data becomes an enabler for a new entertainment format and the previously unused time of passengers can be monetized for all participating partners. Holoride has the potential to change in-vehicle entertainment for good. We are creating a global platform for the mobility and entertainment industry.
Munich startup: But that’s already happened!
Holoride: no – we will be the first to establish this technology in the environment of motorized transport, starting with the car.
Holoride: for us munich is perfect
Munich startup: has there already been a point at which you almost failed??
Holoride: fortunately not, but of course there were some sleepless nights before the start-up. The start-up and the spin-off were a huge challenge, but we are firmly convinced of our technology and the benefits it brings.
Munich startup: where do you want to be in one year, where do you want to be in five years??
Holoride: series integration with vehicle manufacturers is planned for 2021, location-based experiences are a topic and in 5 years holoride will work in all means of transportation.
Munich startup: how do you rate munich as a startup location??
Holoride: munich is perfect for us – after all, all three of us were already in the area before with ingolstadt or. Already at home in munich and feel very comfortable here. In addition to the large international companies that are based in munich, we naturally also appreciate the diversity and high quality of life that the Bavarian state capital offers. This is particularly important to us in order to attract talented people to munich, if they don’t already live here.
The international airport is of course also a plus point for us, and the fact that munich as a location is of great importance both nationally and internationally is also shown by the fact that the IAA will be held in munich from 2021.
Munich startup: skype or in person?
Holoride: it all depends. Personal is always great, but unfortunately that doesn’t always work out because we are also on the road quite a bit due to a variety of projects. That’s why we always try to speak with a picture at calls, which we think gives the conversations a little more of a personal touch.
Since december 2015 simon tischer writes for munich startup. Preferably he reports about studies, backgrounds and from events. He studied sociology at the ludwig-maximilians-university in munich.
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