Major Takeaways:
- At Mobile World Congress, Chrysler unveiled a new car sales app that uses augmented reality to allow customers to modify features in a car before they buy
- The platform was built on Google’s Project Tango, a technology that allows mobile devices to “see” what’s around them using motion tracking, depth perception, and other services
- While the idea is just a prototype now, it suggests that there are opportunities for car dealers to change how they sell cars
- With this technology, buyers would no longer have to imagine how a showroom car with a tan interior would look with black leather, they could just point a device at the car and see for themselves
From the PC World article:
Fiat Chrysler is using some Google technology to change the way you buy a car.
At Mobile World Congress on Tuesday, Fiat Chrysler showcased a new car sales app that uses augmented reality to allow customers to modify features in a car before they buy. The platform was built atop Google’s Project Tango, a technology that allows mobile devices to “see” what’s around them using motion tracking, depth perception, and other services.
“The prototype allows car buyers to hold a device and, using the integrated sensor technology and motion tracking, area learning, and depth perception from Project Tango, view, walk around, look inside and configure a life-size virtual car,” Fiat Chrysler said in a statement.
The app, developed with Accenture, would allow users to open doors and see a “detailed interior, where changes to upholstery colors or dashboard styles can be made with a tap on the device screen.”
While the idea is just a prototype now, it suggests that there are opportunities for car dealers to change how they sell cars. Buyers no longer have to imagine how a showroom car with a tan interior would look with black leather; they just point a device at the car and see for themselves. Once they pick what they want, they can negotiate a deal and drive off the lot.
“We believe dealers and car buyers will be quick to embrace this enhanced way of buying a car as the new devices become readily available, taking advantage of the 360-degree mapping environment to create this unique experience,” Luca Mentuccia, senior managing director and head of Accenture’s Automotive practice said in a statement.
Project Tango is still in testing, and the first devices outfitted with the tech won’t be available until this summer. Also at MWC, PCMag’s Alex Colon tried it out a Barcelona art museum, where journalists were invited to point a tablet at works of art for more information, or follow on-screen arrows to find their way around the museum.
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