Developers are hailing a potential revolution in car purchasing, with shoppers soon able to step inside a new car virtually using their tablet or smartphone, without ever having to walk onto a showroom floor.
At this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, automaker Fiat Chrysler introduced a prototype 3D augmented reality program developed by Accenture Digital and powered by Google's Project Tango.
The augmented reality provides an in-car tour that's true to the original, right down to the vehicle's upholstery, which itself can be customised in the app. Unlike with virtual reality applications, the new technology doesn't simply immerse you in a virtual world, but instead lets you see virtual objects projected onto actual surroundings.
This new sales method could soon become standard for automakers around the world.
"Augmented reality will completely change the way vehicles are configured and purchased," Luca Mentuccia of Accenture explained at a Barcelona demonstration.
Just last week, Google's Project Tango was introduced to the market, but is currently only available on Lenovo's Phab2 Pro model of smartphone.
According to Matteo Aliberti, also from Accenture, the next generation of mobile devices will already have Tango installed as a standard feature. The basis for Tango's augmented reality technology is numerous sensors that detect exact movements and can thus recognize all 360 degrees of your spatial environment.
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