Patents filed by Uber back in 2016 were unveiled by the United States Patent and Trademark Office last month, and show that the company is developing virtual reality experiences for use within its autonomous vehicle fleets. The application, titled Virtual Reality Experience for a Vehicle shows the potential for a motion-based VR experience that would react to sensor data generated by the self-driving vehicle in real time.
The application reads: “A virtual reality system is disclosed that provides autonomous vehicle (AV) sensor data to applications such as games and augmented reality overlays to enhance experiences for riders in the autonomous vehicle. Virtual reality headsets offer users unique and interesting experiences, but when used in a changing environment such as a moving vehicle, external stimuli can impair the virtual reality experience. AV sensors can predict these stimuli so that applications can take measures to reduce their impacts on virtual reality experiences. In addition, sensors can include cameras that send live video feeds to virtual reality devices to render improved views of the environment around the AV and of landmarks in a city. Furthermore, virtual reality devices can take advantage of the computing resources in order to offer better performance and more features to applications”.
