Microsoft, the tech giant, recently unveiled a headset with transparent lenses - named Hololens - which according to the company might help designers design cars in future. It is basically a wearable device that allows users to play video games with a controller, watch TV without a television, etc. The Microsoft HoloLens covers users' entire field of view. Unlike virtual-reality headsets like Oculus Rift, this wearable device has transparent screen which shows what’s actually around them. The device will not present holograms, but it is designed to provide an accurate reinforce real experience that superimposes points on top of the real world.
According to Microsoft, the HoloLens could be an important automobile technology that will play an important role in designing new cars. Instead of building physical models, designers could see what they’re working on in three dimensions. Adding to it, the Microsoft HoloLens will make it easier to show ideas and project details, design to colleagues and bosses without making any physical presentation. Bosses and colleagues simply have to put on a headset to see through the virtual model. This technology will reduce burdens on engineers and reduces pressure of making physical presentations for bosses.
At the unveiling, Microsoft had released new promotional video to showcase the potential of Hololens. The promotional video shows people making changes to a CAD rendering of a motorcycle, then projecting the changes onto a desk for floor space to provide a full-size virtual copy. The flexibility and ease of doing work could attract carmakers, as the use of new technology in cars would further advance the operations of companies.
Microsoft is not the first player to come out with such a technology, Ford Motor Company has already established one lab that allows car designers to audit full-size virtual clone of cars. Moreover, this system could allow people living in different continents, working on same project to see that. It is quite early to comment whether the Microsoft Hololens would become a device of car design studios, but this technology could fasten the car manufacturers' operation. The tech giant is yet to reveal any information on production plans of Hololens, and the headsets themselves have some critical issues to be sorted.
