To present the concept of its first electric car I-PACE, a well-known automobile brand chose one of the most technically complex options. In cities divided by thousands of kilometers, London and Los Angeles, two groups of viewers at the same time got acquainted with the novelty through the HTC Vive Business Edition virtual reality helmets.
Although earlier other companies had already presented their products in virtual reality, they were limited to a simple 360-degree video. Jaguar posed a much more difficult task: viewers should be able to inspect I-PACE in any convenient perspective that they set up themselves with the help of HTC Vive controllers.
To interact with virtual reality does not cause discomfort, you need a very low response time. Otherwise, there is a risk to repeat the sad story of the first VR games. So we reduced the response time to
11 milliseconds . During this time, Dell Workstation systems created two high-resolution images at once. 1200 x 1080 pixels for each eye - as much as HTC Vive allows.
To achieve such indicators for a single HTC Vive is not difficult - you build an iron-based computer through the list on the manufacturer's website. But in our case we had to take into account several circumstances, without which everything would not be so cool at all.
The presentation was held at once in two cities - London and Los Angeles - the distance between them is almost 9 thousand kilometers. Based on the second site, the entire computing infrastructure was deployed. In order not to upset the European guests, we had to seriously work on the connection.
For the story of Jaguar I-PACE hooked live commentators. They were filmed in a separate studio right during the presentation, and the video / audio was immediately integrated into the CGI movie. As a result, they received not even a virtual, but a mixed reality.
Finally, the presentation was not conducted individually. Spectators with helmets in two groups scored more than ten. You understand that for everyone you need to calculate your visual part. It was also assumed that viewers will be able to see not only the presentation, but also each other, albeit in a simplified form - along the rectangles of the helmets. Here is one of the final shots:
At the beginning of the presentation, Jaguar Chief Designer Jan Callum effectively presented the new Jaguar I-PACE. With views from space and flying past the Tardis - Doctor Who transport. The British will never miss a chance to mention their cult fantastic hero :)
Then all the participants were lowered to Earth, right into the I-PACE salon. Under the moderator’s comments, the audience viewed the salon and found out more about the new car.
Jaguar I-PACE is the first electric car under the brand Jaguar. It belongs to the class of SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle) - universal functional off-road vehicles with increased comfort, which are able to perform the tasks of traditional passenger cars and light trucks. It is stated that the I-PACE accelerates to 60 miles per hour (about 100 km / h) in 4 seconds, so the potential of the sports car is here. Cruising is about 500 km. In a press release, they note that this will be enough for a week of average use, but for urban conditions this is perhaps too optimistic. With the help of the 50-kW charging station, the I-PACE is fully charged in just over two hours, 80% of the charge is restored in one and a half.
Externally, I-PACE became the heir to the
Jaguar C-X75 - another concept car, developed in conjunction with the Williams Formula One team. He appeared in the film "007: Spectrum" as the car of one of the antagonists, Mr. Hinks. Such an origin provides the I-PACE with a number of differences from the traditional SUV - a more sporty, aerodynamic body, a more spacious cabin with increased seating for passengers in the back seat. I-PACE is designed for five people and a load of 530 liters. Additionally, a free volume of 28 liters is provided in the hood.
And in I-PACE there is a glass roof, which fits perfectly into the interior thanks to the ceramic ornament. For the dark, there is a LED-backlight.
Management of I-PACE internal systems is organized through a central 12-inch console and several auxiliary displays. For some applications, such as Spotify, the interface is provided from the smartphone to the console, in a driver-friendly mode. Of course, there is a built-in Wi-Fi access point.
The launch of the Jaguar I-PACE is scheduled for 2018. Now anyone can request a purchase of I-PACE on the manufacturer’s website.