Honda Video Shows Us How It Uses VR To Design Cars Faster - CleanTechnica

Get a glimpse astatine the Honda VR Design Studio successful Los Angeles with this marque caller video, and spot however Honda is utilizing cutting-edge virtual world (VR) and mixed world exertion to velocity up the accumulation of modern vehicles. It’s nary concealed that VR has go an indispensable instrumentality for Honda designers erstwhile creating electrical cars (EVs), which is wherefore they are expanding its usage some successful LA arsenic good arsenic Japan.

The 2024 Honda Prologue afloat electrical SUV was the archetypal of its benignant to beryllium designed chiefly done virtual world visualization technology, which proved invaluable erstwhile it came to conquering collaboration and ratio issues during the epoch of COVID-19.

“Our plan teams utilized the latest VR exertion to envision Prologue successful antithetic environments and to accelerate cross-collaboration betwixt Honda styling teams successful the U.S. and Japan,” said Mathieu Geslin, Honda VR plan leader. “It’s an ongoing effort to further research the method capabilities of VR and mixed world successful our improvement centers globaly, and we’re truly excited astir what this volition mean for the Honda products of the future.”

You tin spot the video beneath (scroll further down for a summary and commentary).

The video starts disconnected by showing america the Prologue EV, a conveyance that’s expected to travel retired adjacent year. Unlike astir Honda vehicles, the Prologue EV was mostly a plan job. Honda started retired with GM’s upcoming Chevrolet Equinox EV, which volition beryllium based connected the Ultium Platform.

In the past, Honda has made immoderate large missteps which person near maine shaking my head — similar sending Clarity cars to the crusher and neglecting to present either a Honda e oregon hybrid Acura MDX into US markets. That past 1 is particularly disheartening for america due to the fact that my woman loves her MDX, but we had nary enactment to upgrade it with a plugin hybrid powertrain.

Fortunately, Honda decided to alteration directions successful 2022. Evidently, the institution saw that electrical vehicles would beryllium an indispensable portion of US and European markets successful the future. And, it needed to get backmost connected way ASAP.

Though it mightiness not look truthful astatine archetypal glance, partnering with GM — a laggard successful the electrical conveyance abstraction compared to Tesla — could beryllium beneficial for catching up to different players. The past fewer years person seen GM instrumentality less risks, but it has been prepping for thing special: tapping into an untouched marketplace conception of $30,000-$35,000 cars. GM is determined to instrumentality connected Tesla successful the electrical conveyance market, and it’s signifying conscionable that with its precocious lowered prices for Bolt EV and Bolt EUV models arsenic good arsenic a $30,000 Equinox EV model.

By providing assistance, GM has presented Honda with the accidental to swiftly service a cardinal assemblage and debar opening from scratch erstwhile processing its electrical conveyance programme — allowing it to enactment up of the competition, oregon astatine slightest not autumn truthful acold down that it becomes wholly irrelevant.

But, that didn’t mean Honda could conscionable bargain vehicles from GM and swap the badges. In the past, companies person tried to bash that benignant of “badge engineering,” but buyers tin spot what they’re doing and it could marque the institution look bad. It had to bash thing much to marque the conveyance truly beryllium a Honda, contempt the underpinnings coming from GM.

Oh, and it had to marque this hap FAST. And during a planetary pandemic that was making in-person enactment and planetary question a batch harder. So, VR exertion was a earthy fit. After all, Honda had already been moving connected the thought of utilizing VR for plan since 2017, and conscionable needed to enactment the techniques into action.

It utilized to beryllium that Honda’s designers would bash the accepted happening and commencement with a clay model, which they’d past crook into a integer exemplary for further enactment and collaboration. This time, they did it the different mode around, starting with a integer plan created successful a VR situation and lone utilizing clay cuts aboriginal to verify that it each looks bully successful the existent world.

Now, Honda has a 2500 sq. ft. abstraction dedicated to VR. The squad needs each of that abstraction for not lone modeling, but moving successful the existent satellite astir virtual models alternatively of conscionable clicking and zooming astir with a rodent oregon something.

Another immense vantage for Honda was being capable to collaborate virtually with designers astir the world. The pandemic made this problematic to impossible, but going guardant it’s going to besides little the biology interaction of plan and assistance things determination faster, truthful the pandemic ended up giving the institution thing that’s going to beryllium utile aboriginal by shaking its ways up.

But, this wasn’t conscionable strapping connected an Oculus/Meta Quest and dancing successful the surviving room. They really created carnal mockups of the conveyance to marque the VR lucifer up with real-world interaction and feel. This allowed the designers to get a existent consciousness for what the plan would really beryllium similar for drivers, which helped marque a much usable plan from the beginning.

All of this meant little alteration aboriginal with different teams that plan and physique interiors, prime materials, etc. So, the velocity gained was precise real.

The collaboration was besides capable to beryllium real-time betwixt teams connected antithetic continents. Instead of sending files oregon adjacent clay blocks backmost and forth, the squad members were capable to look astatine the aforesaid happening astatine the aforesaid clip aboriginal successful the design, meaning everybody’s ideas and input ended up being portion of the process aboriginal alternatively of later. Once again, this was convenient, but it besides added a batch of velocity and ratio to the process.

But, don’t deliberation this is the end. Honda got a sensation of what VR could bash for it during the pandemic and the plan of the Prologue’s uniquely Honda elements. So, they’re pressing guardant and trying to find ways to marque VR bash adjacent much enactment for it successful the future. The institution is looking guardant to what it could mean not lone for the convenience and velocity of the teams’ work, but however it could assistance Honda marque amended electrical vehicles successful the aboriginal arsenic it expands into fully-Honda platforms.

Featured representation provided by Honda.

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