HTC Introduces Car-Based VR for Vive Flow Headset

How many times have you been on a long road trip and wished that, instead, you were careening through space or exploring a long-abandoned theme park? 

Well, your wish is coming true, thanks to consumer electronics stalwart HTC. They’ve partnered up with a company called Holoride to develop car-based VR experiences, as announced in an official press release.

You'll need HTC's standalone Vive Flow VR headset to access this content, but the two companies say they've solved potential motion sickness issues by synchronizing the headset with the speed of the car and other relevant data points. In other words, how fast you are traveling in real life dictates the overall tenor of the experience. 

Speaking of this experience, Holoride says users can expect a wide range of virtual content, from riding a roller coaster, exploring a theme park, to visiting various virtual worlds. The company also noted that "2D content" will be available, which can only mean movies and television.

"Vive Flow can fit in the palm of your hand and still deliver a breathtaking experience," Shen Ye, Global Head of Hardware at HTC Vive, said in the announcement. "Paired with Holoride's impressive tech, you'll be able to turn car rides into virtual amusement parks. We're very excited to work with Holoride in shaping the future of passenger entertainment."

The technology will be on display and available for demos as part of the HTC Vive exhibition booth at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) event taking place in Barcelona, Spain, next week. As for regular consumers, access will be granted later in the year.