Ford Is Using Microsoft's HoloLens To Design Cars In Augmented Reality

Ford is using Microsoft's HoloLens headset to let designers quickly model out changes to cars, trucks, and SUVs in augmented reality. This allows designers to see the changes on top of an existing physical vehicle, instead of the traditional clay model approach to car design. The Verge reports: Ford is still using clay models, but the HoloLens can be used to augment additional 3D models without having to build every single design prototype with clay. It's one of the more interesting ways we've seen businesses use Microsoft's HoloLens, and it's something customers will never see. Microsoft is planning to hold a Windows Mixed Reality launch event on October 3rd in San Francisco. We're not expecting to hear about a HoloLens successor, but we should get a better idea of what apps and games we'll see coming for Microsoft's Windows Mixed Reality headsets.

Re: Give it up Microsoft

[itamblyn]

It's actually pretty neat technology. I was impressed

Re: Give it up Microsoft

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you willing to pay for it though?

I agree the idea is nice but not nice enough to buy.

Re:

[gravewax]

No I wouldn't, but then I am not running a multi million dollar design/engineering project that these are designed for nor do I have a spare quarter of a million to drop on a set of devices and implementation. All indications are sales and adoption have been pretty good thus far.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

it has been incredibly hard to buy them ever since they were released as demand for them has been high. They have been very successful, remember this is not a product a home user or your average company would ever see or even be able to purchase if they wanted (3k a pop, plus a large project commitment in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to even be able to place an order. I hope the next version has a large FOV, but even with the current limited one it has been a hit.

and as I replied when the Onion got ahold of this

[swschrad]

The next version will allow engineers to also see the safety recalls next to the virtual car.

Pretty neat.

[olsmeister]

But I'll really be impressed when Ford engineers can have the computer quickly piece together a simulation of Henry Ford and then using the hololens and the Henry Ford simulation design the next best selling car in the world in virtual reality.

Better title

[spongman]

Ford and Microsoft are now namedropping each other in a brand ad/press release.

BS from the fourth word on

[stooo]

The article is pure BS

>> Ford is using Microsoft's ....
That is wrong right there. you can't simply be just "using" a MS product.
It's logically either one or a combination of these:

- you can abuse a MS product.
- you can be abused by a MS product.
- you can misuse a MS product.
- you can misused by a MS product.
- you can fight with the support of a MS product.
- you can pay a MS product.
- you can be payed by marketing for a MS product, and regret it bitterly.
- you can be disenchanted by a MS product.
- you

Cynical?

[Anonymous Coward]

You seem very cynical. Hololens really is transformative for its ability to leave voice notes in a 3D scene. We've never had a way to visualize 3D views of objects properly before, the ability to move the head and eyes and use that to set the view onto a 3D object instead of a mouse or trackball or keys is revolutionary and will allow Ford to leap ahead of all those competitors.

Add to that a popup voice saying "Bob I see an issue here", that's as revolutionary as Second Life.

Ford really are nailing it latel

Re:

[rogoshen1]

"now" ? where were you when sync came out? :)

No they aren't.

[Gravis Zero]

What they are doing is using it to shape the exterior of a car model. There is a lot of engineering that goes into designing cars and this is used for exactly jack shit of that engineering. So no, they aren't designing any cars with it, they are just replacing real clay with virtual clay.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

they do design in CAD, but they still make clay models so that designers can get a feel for how the car will look in real life. There is alot of value in having a real model to touch and feel as that is generally how people interact with cars.

also the majority of 3d racing games use cars that already exist so more than often they just scan the cars if they cant get the models directly from the manufacturer.

maybe you should go read up on the design process of cars, but you are right about this being a slashv

The implications

[OneHundredAndTen]

Ford cars will crash in weird and wonderful ways.

So...

[coofercat]

So they'll be making nicer looking cars now, will they? No? oh :-(

Hololens Experience form a physics professo friend

[Dripdry]

I can see why Ford would try this move. A physics teacher friend of mine purchased a Hololens to work on a project that ultimately (finally!) landed him a tenure track position at a University. He showed me his demo, magnetic field lines given a point charge in space; simple stuff, but a neat idea to help students learn.

When he put the thing on me it felt pretty nice. Bit heavy, but comfy. Booted it up and the whooshing of scanning the room was impressive. Then he showed me the Solar System program. It completely blew my mind, could walk around the room, lean in to see things, zoom and manipulate with my bare hands in the air; I've tried VR, but after a few minutes with AR I was ready to hand over my bucks for the next version of Hololens, no questions asked. The current one would be GREAT for engineers and architects, maybe medical applications too, but not quite there for consumer.

I'm a convert, honestly. I'd love to get one.