Valeo, a global leader in mobility technology, is set to unveil a revolutionary in-car gaming experience at South by Southwest 2024 in Austin, Texas. The new extended reality (XR) game, called Valeo Racer, combines real-time video and the vehicle's actual surroundings, providing unique experiences and challenges for passengers every time they ride.
Valeo Racer leverages the vehicle's existing advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) and AI perception algorithms to generate the game in real time. The game is powered by Unity's Runtime, a proprietary component of the game engine that handles various critical components of the game, including high-performance graphics, user input and interactions, game component coordination, real-time physics simulation, animation, scripting languages, asset management, and networking.
According to Geoffrey Bouquot, executive vice president of Strategy and chief technology officer at Valeo, the company aims to offer car manufacturers new solutions and technologies to meet the evolving needs and expectations of drivers and passengers. As vehicles are equipped with more sensors and software to support driving assistance and autonomous driving systems, Valeo sees opportunities to reuse sensors and computing power already onboard to support new entertainment experiences.
Marc Whitten, chief product and technology officer at Unity, said, “The Valeo Racer experience highlights how Unity can be used in the end-to-end production cycle within the automotive industry by uniting real-time technologies. We hope the unique experience developed with Valeo serves as a template for engineers and creators to think beyond the use of our technology for just safety, to ultimate passenger satisfaction — front seat and back.”
As the automotive industry evolves toward autonomous and connected vehicles, in-car entertainment will become increasingly important to enhance the overall user experience for passengers. Valeo Racer demonstrates how Valeo's automotive XR gaming software development kit could help car manufacturers offer new in-vehicle entertainment powered by existing equipment.
