You Can Now Experience Bentley’s New EXP 100 GT Concept Car Via Augmented Reality
The app projects a rendered image of the car onto a flat surface that the user can then walk around and view from any angle.
Bentley recently launched a mobile app that employs augmented reality (AR) to show off 3D views of its EXP 100 GT concept car, which is powered by four electric motors and can produce 1,106 pound-feet of torque. Considering it’ll likely be 15 years before the 186-mph electric Bentley becomes a reality, this is our only chance of experiencing Crewe's latest creation.
The newly debuted EXP 100 GT is a concept car designed to tease the company’s vision of the car of the future—or 2035, to be exact. Since there's only one concept car and none of us actually live in the future, Bentley designed the appropriately titled "Bentley 100 AR" mobile phone app. Combined with a smartphone's camera and augmented reality technology, the app gives users a virtual tour of the interior and exterior of the swanky car.
The app is currently only available for Apple devices only, and it "projects" a rendered image of the car onto a flat surface that the user can then walk around and view from any angle. When the app is used at a Bentley dealer, it projects a full-size virtual model of the car, complete with commentary from the design team. Anywhere else, the car is scaled down to 3:4 scale.
During our own use of the app, we realized that the process requires the printing of a "base" in which the car is then projected upon. However, we skipped the printing and instead pulled up the image on a computer monitor instead, in which the car projected without any issues. While it's not the most convenient thing to do, the 3D demo is cool and definitely worth the four minutes or so it took to set up the thing.
Bentley isn't the only automaker using augmented and virtual reality to both design and show off their vehicles. Earlier this year, Ford reported that dozens of its designers were experimenting with the technology across its five global design studios. Furthermore, GMC will offer AR tech in the new Sierra pickup trucks to make trailers almost invisible when backing up, and Land Rover is piloting similar tech to make the hood of the 2020 Evoque disappear to give a better view of rough terrain ahead.
h/t: autoevolution
