Gaming on the go finds home behind the wheel

LAS VEGAS — To whatever degree one believes in cars as smartphones on wheels, CES showed plenty of evidence that video games are gaining important traction in the vehicles of today — and casting visions of a gaming-rich automotive experience in coming years.

Holoride began offering its in-cabin virtual reality gaming in the U.S. this year. Nvidia announced partnerships with automakers to expand its cloud-based gaming subscription. And Sony, maker of the wildly popular PlayStation console, said it had a partnership with the maker of Fortnite as it revealed the Afeela, an electric concept sedan crafted with partner Honda Motor Co.

On one level, the developments represent the expansion of the gaming industry, now estimated by market researcher Newzoo at 3.2 billion players globally and more than $180 billion in revenue. But it's also about anticipating changes in how people interact with their vehicles as they charge batteries and as machines take increasing control of the driving.

"A big part of this is planning for the future," said Danny Shapiro, vice president of automotive for Nvidia. "Once the driver is no longer in the loop, then any kind of entertainment, whether it's video conferencing, whether it's watching movies, playing games, all of the above will be part of that in-vehicle experience."

Nvidia announced partnerships with Hyundai Motor Group, Polestar and China's BYD to incorporate its GeForceNOW gaming subscription service into future vehicles. It won't work well with just a 3G connection, but a car with access to 5G or Wi-Fi could support high-level gaming.

For drivers looking to kill 20 or 30 minutes while their EV charges, playing video games could be a fun alternative to doom-scrolling on Twitter, streaming YouTube videos or answering email, he said.

With the spread of plug-in vehicles and the popularity of gaming, Shapiro said, more automaker partnerships are in the works for GeForceNOW.

But the automaker's role in in-vehicle gaming isn't assured, said Colin Bird-Martinez, a consultant with S&P Global Mobility.

It's hard to provide the capabilities that gamers expect. There are challenges to keep up with game-computing demands, especially in light of the durability of modern vehicles.

Companies are looking at a number of strategies, he said, from Tesla and eventually Sony offering AAA games that require extensive computing and sometimes additional equipment such as a keyboard and mouse. On the other end are pretty basic, phone-like games played on a touch screen.

He questioned whether the breadth and depth of the overlap between gaming and vehicle use justifies costs.

"The longer-term dream, right, has always been autonomous cars — then everyone can game," he said. "But now that we know that that's going to be further out in the future, I noticed a deemphasis around that and much more on charging" as the opportunity for game time.

To be sure, not everyone is convinced that robotaxis are so far in the distance. Richard Chung of Toyota Boshuko said driverless taxis are already on the road in China.

His company has worked with other Toyota Group suppliers on the Moox concept vehicle.

Helping urban riders feel better is one attribute of the autonomous pods, scheduled to be in use by 2030.

In a demonstration on the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Moox started by checking the passenger's status by measuring heart rate and such.

If someone is found to be tense, it suggests a deep breathing and calming meditation, creating an ideal environment of soothing sounds with outdoorsy digital green leaves on the augmented reality display screen.

After the passenger is calmed, the Moox pod offers a game — Virus Buster — that can be played without any additional equipment. Sensors identify the player's hands for virtually throwing shurikens, or ninja stars, at cartoon viruses or balloons that pop and blow away surrounding viruses.

For now, when humans drive the vehicles, many passengers simply choose to bring their own device into the car to play games.

That's at least part of the thinking at Holoride, which lets people who play virtual reality games at home using their same HTC VIVE headset for games optimized to play in the car.

Holoride, a startup spun out of Audi, uses key motion data collected from most of the German automaker's current model year cars to enhance the gaming experience. That data lets the VR headset move dots and other items in the peripheral view to replicate the actual motion outside so users don't get nauseous.

With its U.S. launch, the company is offering a hockey-puck-size unit that suction-cups to the windshield to capture the same motion data and transmit it to the headset. So now any car can become a mobile VR arcade. At CES, the company offered demos of what it calls the Motorverse in Audis using the built-in system and in classic Cadillacs with the retrofit.

There are real advantages for automakers to partner with Holoride, said Nils Wollny, the company's CEO.

First, there's the money that Holoride will pay for the acceleration, braking, GPS and other data. But beyond revenue, he said, is the data sharing: Integrating the two systems means that "if one signal — for example, GPS — is missing, we can triangulate with other data points and have a more robust experience. Also, in edge cases — tunnels or very narrow urban canyons — then you still have a very precise experience."

There could also be opportunities for auto-brand specific in-game marketing, Wollny said. Insights gained about passenger behavior and preferences could prove quite valuable.

Ivee Technologies is focused on learning from the behavior of passengers. With the long-term aim of engaging passengers in a robotaxi, the company is working with human-driven rides for hire: Ubers, Lyfts and black cars, such as Black Lane.

It lets the passenger, who is paying for the trip, decide what to watch or listen to. And the seat can vibrate to emphasize the action in a movie trailer or game or the beat of a rocking tune.

The service is offered in 300 vehicles in Los Angeles and Miami. A third city will be added soon, said founder Adam Giannikoulis.

He's proud his startup is in the market, getting experience and analyzing data on individuals and groups.

"Let's let the people decide," he said. "Let's get data to figure out what they want."