A good friend of mine is a campus security guard at a local college. Day in and day out he walks the campus, step by step improving his Pokemon Go game. Many games like Pokemon Go are centered around either working with a user’s step count, or Virtual Reality. Porsche’s new endeavor in augmented reality eschews both of these goals in favor of helping users to understand the Mission E. While most augmented reality apps are games, the Mission E app is strictly informative. With production-ready Mission E sedans still a while away, this is the most interactive way we currently have to look at the car.
The app is available for AR-compatible iPhone OS and Android phones. The app allows the Mission E concept to be virtually placed in a room, and uses the AR to provide animations and simulate vehicle aerodynamics. Users can also view cutaways, X-Ray views, configure the car in their preferred color, and take an AR test drive in-app.
I am keen to use this app, and I’m wondering if it will be better served by an AR app or a browser application. The Mission E is a big move for Porsche, and I really hope this app will give me the depth that I want to see about this car. In any case, every gearhead loves X-Ray and cutaway views.
Porsche expects the Mission E to be on the market by the end of the decade (that seems like a subtle shift backward in delivery terminology). This app gives would-be buyers a view inside the car well before the production-ready car is even on autoshow stands. Per Kjell Gruner, Vice President Marketing at Porsche AG. “The augmented reality technology offers us ways to depict complex technical aspects of the new vehicle technology vividly and emotively. It is important to us that our customers can immerse themselves in tomorrow’s technology and convey enthusiasm at an early stage – any time, any place.”