WTF IS HOLORIDE?

Sounds like something from Back to the Future.

It really does, although with Holoride you very much do need roads. It’s basically VR for the car (but definitely not the driver). While that might sound like a one-way ticket to Vomitsville, Holoride is different. The headset connects to the car via Wi-fi or Bluetooth and uses real-time motion, location and navigational data from the vehicle’s onboard sensors to mimic its movement on the screens in front of your eyes. If the car takes a left, your in-game self does too; if it accelerates, so does your virtual ride; and if it grinds to a halt, your in-game self stops too.

That should make traffic jams fun.

It certainly means racing games are off the agenda. Imagine leading a race and ending up at the back of the field because whoever was driving IRL stopped to let an old lady cross the road. You’d be livid. The whole thing is smarter than that, though. Because it has access to the car’s sat-nav it knows how long your journey is likely to take, what sort of roads you’ll be travelling on and how busy they are, so it can tailor the experience and react accordingly. As well as reducing motion sickness, it should also make things more immersive.

And how much is the headset?

Well, that’s one of the best things about it: the software doesn’t require a specific headset, although Holoride has teamed up with HTC to make the lightweight

Vive Flow the first one to work with the platform when it launches in the second half of this year. There’s no word yet on which makes of car it’ll work with – but considering Holoride has collaborated with Audi, Porsche, Mercedes and Ford already, it’s fair to assume they’re at the front of the queue. Uber rides will never be the same again.