The car booth was moved to the user's mobile device.

Absrtact: Audi adopts augmented reality technology to generate the Q7 3D model as more and more young consumers choose to use smartphones and tablets to search for new car information rather than to deal with car dealerships, the carmakers represented by Cadillac and Toyota

Audi adopts augmented reality technology to generate the Q7 3D model

As more and more young consumers choose to use smartphones and tablets to search for new car information rather than to deal with car dealerships, carmakers such as Cadillac and Toyota begin to develop applications using technologies such as augmented Reality (augmented Reality), The car booth was moved directly to the user's mobile device.

More than half of young respondents said they would deliberately avoid dealing with car sales representatives, according to a survey published by AutoTrader.com, a US car purchase website.

To comply with this trend, Cadillac and Toyota and other carmakers have started using new technology to build showrooms for buyers. With a system called augmented reality, additional images and videos can be embedded in images taken by a user's smartphone or tablet computer, allowing for more detailed browsing, and often adding an information layer to the 3D image.

For example, when Cadillac launched an ATS last year, it launched a campaign in several cities in the United States: just aim the ipad at a carefully crafted chalk mural on a Cadillac, and watch a driving video that includes the Monaco F1 Grand Prix circuit. They hope to attract the attention of potential buyers, especially young people who do not usually consider Cadillac when studying new cars.

Cadillac later introduced the technology to print ads, which led readers to download the brand's smartphone app to watch the car's 3D model. With this app, users can zoom in on the details of the car and see the full picture by sliding their fingers 360 degrees on the screen.

Change the way the car experiences

Audi and Toyota have also begun to use the same technology in their brochures and promotional strategies. In addition, other businesses see opportunities. Metaio, a German software company with offices in San Francisco, is already developing projects for Audi, Volkswagen and Toyota.

Specular germ, based in Los Angeles, is also using the Hollywood Studios ' rendering technology to allow users to simply swipe their fingers on a smartphone or tablet screen to open doors that don't actually exist, watch the car and look around and even drive.

Morris May, the company's founder, Morris Meilly that the technology is changing the way people experience cars and helping carmakers save costs. For example, when a car manufacturer makes a slight adjustment to a model, specular germ only need to adjust the data in the original marketing material, which saves time and money greatly.

Cater to young consumer groups

The automaker's move also reflects the trend across the retail industry: with the widespread popularity of smartphones, augmented reality has turned from a dream to a realistic sales tool. Carmakers love the technology in essence to cater to young people who spend a lot of time online looking at photos of cars. Today, much of the research before buying cars is done online, and is not limited to young consumers.

Many young consumers will not even buy a test drive in front of the car. Instead, they will read the test directly, then add functionality to their cars via the web, and finally go directly to the dealership to buy the exact same car that is displayed on the smartphone.

This is one of the reasons why car dealers want augmented reality to replace sales reps as powerful sales tools.