Metaverse – Advent in the Automotive world!

Decoding / Understanding Metaverse

In simple terms, a Metaverse is a shared online space, a virtual world backed by technologies letting one meet and interact with other likeminded evangelists and things online.

Metaverse provides its users a shared 3D space which is a customizable digital overlay of the real world and can be immersive and intuitive. This virtual space can either duplicate an actual location, all aspects of real world or be a complete fantasy location.

What technologies constitute Metaverse?

• Non-Fungible Token (NFT)
• Augmented Reality (AR)
• Virtual Reality (VR)
• Blockchain
• Mixed Reality (MR)
• Extended Reality (ER), etc.

Key Attributes of Metaverse

• Persistence/Synchrony
• Fully functioning economy
• Unlimited concurrent users
• Interoperability of digital assets, information, etc.
• User-generated content
• Spanning private/public networks, open/closed platforms, etc.

Metaverse in Automotive space

In the Automotive space, Metaverse can plan a significant role in bringing out concept products quickly and intuitively without adopting multiple Engineering or Mathematical model changes.  For example, in

• Design
• Online Vehicle Purchase
• Advertising
• In-car entertainment
• Virtual Drive Experience
• Smart Manufacturing
• Smart & Secure Supply Chain, etc.

Market Potential 

The global Metaverse in Automotive Market was valued at USD 5.3 Billion in 2021 and it is estimated to be valued over USD 116.5 Billion by 2030, at a CAGR of over 41.46% for the period from 2022 to 2030. North America was valued USD 1.67 Billion in 2021. Amongst geographies, North America would lead the innovations in Metaverse, followed by Europe and China.  Fast growing markets like India is fast catching up raising opportunities for technology conglomeration.

Which Automotive companies are moving ahead?

• AUDI is backing up a startup – Holoride, which has begun selling virtual rides
• NISSAN is using Invisible-to-Visible (I2V) technology
• HYUNDAI Motors has also stepped into this space with the online entertainment platform Roblox
• BMW, Ferrari, VW, Porsche, Tesla, etc. are fast venturing into this space

How Metaverse touches across Automotive Value Chain

Product & Services

• Virtual rides. Like we travel in the real world, go on trips, drive to the office, off road trips, and across different country landscape and geographies. This is all being implemented in the virtual world i.e., the Metaverse, as well. Virtual reality creates a 360-degree view of the places. As you travel in the Metaverse, you will be able to access places using cars or any other medium of travel as one would do in real world, giving you a much better view than a video or photograph would.
• The driver of the car would be able to see both real-world and virtual worlds and create immense possibilities for better rides. It uses Invisible-to-Visible (I2V) technology that works with the 3D view and augmented reality. 

Dealership

• Metaverse is going to make the car purchase a lot easier and brining in innovation at every stage. One will be able to check the cars after putting on the glass and have complete view of the car as one would see in real world 
• Users of Metaverse can virtually visit the car showroom. They can sit inside the car’s virtual model. They can even take the car for a spin. All the functionalities of the car can be replicated in the Metaverse. It’s just like having a digital twin of the real-world car model
• If one likes the car, commercials can be closed by making the payment in the form of Cryptocurrency and the car so chosen can be delivered to them in the real world.
• Tech Mahindra announced their version of Metaverse. They have named it TechMVerse where they specifically mentioned providing car dealership solutions in the Metaverse which they have named DealerVerse 

Manufacturing & Supply Chain

• A Metaverse-driven approach to manufacturing is akin to companies like Shopify democratizing e-commerce and facilitating relationships between business owners and suppliers. 
• Rapid production process design, increase in number of product designs, more collaborative product development, reduced risk to quality control are some of the benefits of Metaverse
•  Increased transparency for customers — customers in the Metaverse will have improved visibility into the supply chain process with 3D representations for how products are built, distributed, and sold. Increased transparency means that customers will be able to know what exact lead times are for the cars or its accessories, and spares and any expected delays in shipping, as well as more visibility into real-time shipping costs from different distributors.

Customer Experience

• Hyundai Motors has also stepped into the Metaverse with the online entertainment platform Roblox. They have bought Hyundai Mobility Adventure where the users of Metaverse can communicate and interact. They can play games, have fun and a lot more. 
• British supercar maker McLaren Automotive has selected Infinite World, a leading Metaverse infrastructure platform that enables brands to create, monetize and drive consumer engagement with digital content.

Sample Use Cases

Use Case 1: Metaverse & Auto Commerce

How will it work?

Users of Metaverse can virtually visit the car showroom. They can sit inside the car’s virtual model. They can even take the car for a spin. All the functionalities of the car can be replicated in the Metaverse. It’s just like having a digital twin of the real-world car model. 

If they like the car, they can even make the payment in the form of Cryptocurrency. And the car can be delivered to them in the real world.

Who are pioneering it?

Recently, Tech Mahindra announced their version of Metaverse. They have named it TechMVerse where they specifically mentioned providing car dealership solutions in the Metaverse which they named DealerVerse.

Use Case 2: Metaverse for Manufacturing

How will it work?

A Metaverse-driven approach to manufacturing is akin to companies like Shopify democratizing e-commerce and facilitating relationships between business owners and suppliers. All three key stakeholders in the manufacturing process are benefitted from it, i.e., Design Companies/Owners, 3rd Party Manufacturers and Logistics Providers, and Customers.

• Rapid production process design — in a Metaverse framework, you could easily drag-and-drop your assets in a physics-based simulation and can easily identify how to be more efficient or safe in manufacturing without needing to perform significant physical testing.
• Increase in number of product designs — as with any new technology where there is ease-of-access for user-generated content, there is an expectation to see more content provided within specific genres and business segments (like how content is handled by YouTube). In the case of manufacturing, the barrier to entry for designing low-cost, easy-to-build products is significantly lower with more specific measurements and advanced CAD-like software.
• More collaborative product development — the Metaverse is a communal space for sharing ideas. As such, it is incredibly easy for different stakeholders within a business to design a product, share it with manufacturers within the same environment, and iterate based on feedback, which will shorten the product life cycle for projects.
• Reduced risk to quality control — With more detailed, physics-based designs, the margin of error for production is much smaller. In terms of impact to businesses, they will see lower churn rates for customers as well as lower return rates for defective products.
• Increased transparency for customers — customers in the Metaverse will have improved visibility into the supply chain process with 3D representations for how products are built, distributed, and sold. Increased transparency means that customers will be able to know what exact lead times are for goods and any expected delays in shipping, as well as more visibility into real-time shipping costs for different distributors for both freight and last-mile delivery.

Who are Pioneering Metaverse in the Automotive World?

Audi

Audi is backing up a startup, Holoride, which has begun selling virtual rides. Nils Wollny, the CEO of Holoride aspires to take the company to be known as a transportation company for the Metaverse. 

Hyundai

Hyundai Motors has also stepped into the Metaverse with the online entertainment platform Roblox. They have bought Hyundai Mobility Adventure where the users of Metaverse can communicate and interact.

Nissan

Nissan is on the verge of making the rides more exciting. They are working on ideas for both virtual reality and augmented reality. They are using Invisible-to-Visible (I2V) technology that works with the 3D view and augmented reality. 

BMW

BMW iX1 Metaverse provides an opportunity to discover the world of dreams as their theme says, Sheer Driving Pleasure. One can enter their virtual world and digitally self-explore the new iX1 inside three surreal dreams; move around, discover wonders, and create fantastic memories. BMW has adopted Omniverse to maintain an exact simulation of its plant in Regensburg.

Volkswagen

Volkswagen launched an integrated Metaverse campaign to promote the safety and intelligence features of its latest Polo model, the IQ.DRIVE. Fusing the world of online gaming with reality, ‘Game On’ brings interactive storytelling to life via a treasure hunt for hidden NFTs waiting to be discovered by fans on social media. 

Authors:

Mohan is a Partner at IBM Consulting, India and in current role he leads Automotive, Aerospace and Defence Industries. Mr. Bachhav has 24 years of global experience in various leadership roles in IT Delivery, Solutioning, Business Development and Sales for the global automotive industry.

Shashidhar brings in 29 years of both classical and new generation technology insights covering, High Tech, Electronics and Automotive experience. He is well versed with the Automotive solutions in the Applications space with specialization and insights in IOT, Edge Computing, Hybrid Cloud and Data Analytics. With vast expertise in Next Gen delivery services like DevSecOps, he provides consulting and delivery solutions to Automotive clients.

Sankalp leads Global Auto Aerospace & Defense Knowledge Management. A subject matter expert in Automotive with over 14 years of experience, Sankalp holds a MBA in Operations Management from SPJIMR, Mumbai and holds an advance degree in Integrated Supply Chain Management from Eli Broad School of Business, Michigan State University, USA.

Published in Telematics Wire