Being stuck in traffic is about to get a whole lot less boring.
Filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, CarBuzz has discovered a patent for a virtual drive-by shooting game that Honda is developing for occupants to play while cars are in motion. The idea of in-car gaming is nothing new, but what makes this different is that the game comes alive with the environment outside the moving car.
The premise is that Honda would use motion sensors (cameras), sound detectors (microphones), speakers, and a head-up display (HUD) system to create a virtual playing screen from behind which participants would be able to take aim at various targets virtually, such as sign posts, road markings, billboards, and even other cars.
The patent suggests using input devices like a keyboard, a pointer, a touch panel, a mouse, a joystick, a touchpad, and virtual reality goggles to interact with the game, but a more interesting proposition is that of using your own hand to control the game with gestures. The HUD could serve the same purpose as the goggles, and the patent makes provision for what it calls a “line-of-sight detector” to detect where the lines drawn by your pointed finger gun and your gaze intersect to register a hit.
A smart idea here is that Honda could work with store owners or advertisers to provide game users with coupons, future rental car discounts, or other perks for getting the highest score in an area, for hitting a certain brand's shopfront or advertisement, or for head-on team battles.
The patent suggests that cloud data and GPS could be used to allow members of one car in an area to compete with others in real-time (everyone in a Honda Civic tries to take out everyone else in the same car), or one could compete with past users that have used the same route. The patent also suggests the abovementioned team battles, which could make traffic jams interesting. Perhaps those in lane one could be on one team, those in lane two another, and those in lane three a third.
Honda notes that such developments may actually hinder traffic flow through distraction or unnecessarily prolonged competition, so it suggests implementing such tech when autonomous driving can manage the flow of cars relative to each other and avoid congestion. It also suggests that one user's game may not be activatable when there are several other cars in the locale playing the same game, again to avoid congestion near a collaborating company's billboard, for example.
There appears to be no real benefit to this invention – Honda is just having fun with ideas as it prepares for a future where cars are more than just transport. But that's no bad thing. Not everything needs to be practical or utilitarian. Nobody needs a headliner that lights up, but it's not uncommon.
This tech is probably some way off, but it can be perfected. Sure, one has to consider safety and ensure that the driver is focused on the road, but BMW is working on screens that automatically switch off when the driver looks at them while operating a car. As virtual, mixed, and extended reality technology progresses, we think Honda's will find its way to production in the not-too-distant future.
Keyword: Honda In-Car Gaming Will Let Passengers Perform Virtual Drive-Bys