Ghost Cars and Racing Lines are Getting Real

[Davide Nativo]

Augmented Reality offers new possibilities that combine the real and virtual world.

It is recent news that Porsche has just made a $110 million investment in Swiss company 'WayRay'.

Founded in 2012 in Zurich and counting 250 employees worldwide, WayRay is developing Augmented Reality solutions for different real world applications, focusing mostly on the automotive sector. Other investors are Hyundai, SAIC Motor and Alibaba.

Holographic projections are at the heart of their innovative technology, which turns the windscreen into a true HUD, filled with all the information you need. From race line, lap number, position, lap time and track map when you are on the racetrack, to satellite navigator, speed limits, alerts, service stations and places of interest when you are driving on the streets or on a road trip.

According to WayRay, its solution is better than traditional heads-up displays in use by different carmakers such as Audi, Bmw or Mazda because of “a significantly smaller projection system which can be installed in any vehicle, regardless of the interior design”.

The CEO of the Swiss company, Vitaly Ponomarev, said, «As a deep-tech company, we are committed to creating fundamental innovations that bring us far beyond holographic AR displays and new interfaces. A growing number of projects with carmakers and strong investors are fuelling the company's growth and boosting our confidence in implementing complex innovations. We are proud to be recognized as a reliable partner able to meet the high standards set by investors like Porsche and Hyundai.»

«WayRay’s innovative ideas and products have proven to have enormous potential» stated Lutz Meschke, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board and Member of the Executive Board for Finance & Information Technology at Porsche Cars North America. «We are convinced that by joining forces with WayRay we will in future be able to offer our customers solutions to the usual standard expected of Porsche. That is why we have opted to make a strategic investment».

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What do you think of this technology? Could it represent a positive change in your opinion? Are you looking forward to it?
Let us know, in the comments below!

 

[Celestiale]

So anyone who cried "arcade" when someone uses racing lines in a sim can be quiet soon

 

[ears]

Gonna need a bigger picture, dude.

 

[FeltHat]

more cyberpunk than the actual car from cyberpunk 2077

 

[Ben O'Bro]

Boy Assetto ² will be fun!

(ps Leon, the thumbnail picture doesn't show !)

 

[Davide Nativo]

Boy Assetto ² will be fun!

(ps Leon, the thumbnail picture doesn't show !)
View attachment 271243

@Dave Stephenson a little help, please

 

[Paul Jeffrey]

Sorted

Sorry, I promoted it at work whilst "listening" to a colleague

Finger trouble...

 

[Turk]

This would be great for people who have no idea how wide their car is.

 

[Logan812]

This would be great for people who have no idea how wide their car is.

Sadly, a lot of people on the road could use that.

 

[Davide Nativo]

Sorted

Sorry, I promoted it at work whilst "listening" to a colleague

Finger trouble...

I thought there was some tech issue, hence why I called Dave sorry, thanks for fixing!

 

[123rem]

That's pretty cool.

Always amazes me when a young F1 driver shows up at a track he's never driven before, and within three days he's right on the pace.

 

[Richard Dastardly]

Any decent HUD which enhances instead of detracting is a good step forward, as long as you can adjust it so you don't have to refocus to read it then it's a major safety upgrade over looking at the instrument panel/satnav - even if the latter is on a hud already then better integration into the environment is also a win. Shame this stuff is still costly optionals.

As long as it doesn't start spamming adverts, as they will want to do of course...

Not sure about ghost cars, they're distracting enough in a sim. Will be good for multiclass when you can tag cars by class/driver/whether you're fighting them without looking away like they still do ( think Porsche's LMP had a dash system for that ).

 

[Patrik Marek]

I think it's pretty cool, sat nav with this technology could be quite fun for sure!
On the racetrack, well sure it could help , but if you need racing line on real life track, I'm not sure you belong there , it's about how you feel the grip, how you can push the car, driving line can make you crash because it will be still green but you won't be able to keep the car on the road

Ghost car of your last lap, well it's probably as distracting as it in games .. haha

 

[JackCY]

Cool renders. In 10 years, drivers sit in paddock while cars drive and crash on track driverless. Coz racing safety. In another 10 years, drivers sit at home not being drivers anymore watching AI racing in virtual world instead.

 

[Ghoults]

So now you can sim race while driving a real car.

 

[MarcG]

As long as I can turn the Proximity Indicators off...

 

[Tbear]

That's pretty cool.

Always amazes me when a young F1 driver shows up at a track he's never driven before, and within three days he's right on the pace.

These days if a young racing driver shows up at a track he's never driven before, he's got about a thousand hours on the sim of that track. The sim for the Ford GTE-LM is amazing!

 

[cerebralvortex]

Haha, funny to see they put so much budget in something we as sim racers turn off immediately

 

[Paradox47]

Why the hell he use the steering wheel? Give him gamepad!

 

[mrbungle83]

That's pretty cool.

Always amazes me when a young F1 driver shows up at a track he's never driven before, and within three days he's right on the pace.

I was out in a pub called the peacock in Nantwich where I live, and a Bentley GT3 driver goes there called Jordan Witt (he drove for Nissan in the spa 24) I asked him about learning tracks and he said 3 laps and he's on pace at any ordinary track obs not nurburgring. Had a good chat he was a really cool guy.