Volvo Cars to Develop Next Generation Automotive Technologies With Microsoft

Gothenburg, Sweden (ots/PRNewswire) -

- With Photo

Volvo Cars, the premium car maker, will work together with
Microsoft, the leading platform and productivity company, to jointly
develop next generation automotive technologies.

To view the Multimedia News Release, please click:

http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7668751-volvo-the-virtual-s
howroom/

The two companies today revealed how Microsoft HoloLens, the
world's first fully untethered holographic computer, might be used in
future to redefine how customers first encounter and explore a car,
as well as how cars might be bought and sold in future.

Areas of future collaboration between the two companies could
include autonomous driving technologies and the utilisation of data
generated from connected cars to create new services.

Today's HoloLens demonstration was conducted at Microsoft's global
headquarters in Redmond, USA, and showed how mixed reality might be
used by customers to configure cars in three dimensions. With
HoloLens, a powerful, wearable computer, holograms are mixed into the
physical world.

"HoloLens offers the freedom to create a bespoke experience which
customers can steer themselves. Imagine using mixed reality to choose
the type of car you want - to explore the colours, rims, or get a
better understanding of the features, services and options
available," said Björn Annwall, Senior Vice President, Marketing,
Sales and Service.

He added HoloLens technology might also liberate dealers from more
traditional sales environments and allow them to take a car
configurator out on the road in small Pop-Up stores, shopping malls
or on the high street, opening up new sales channels and introducing
cars to a far larger potential audience.

At the HoloLens demonstration today, participating journalists
were also given a mixed reality preview of Volvo's new S90 premium
sedan, which will be unveiled in reality at the North American
International Auto Show in Detroit in January.

Today's event offered an indication of the potential of mixed
reality to transform the relationship between the customer and the
car. Journalists were able to experience Volvo's new sedan and its
latest autonomous driving technology in 3D before the car has even
been built and launched.

"We are thrilled to be working with Volvo Cars to reimagine what
is possible in car design, discovery and purchasing. We are excited
to be at this intersection of technology and human-centric design
with Volvo," Scott Erickson, Senior Director, Microsoft HoloLens at
Microsoft Corp.

Today's demonstration marks the beginning of longer term
cooperation between Volvo and Microsoft that will embrace a range of
new technologies, all of which have implications for the automotive
industry.

One area of focus will be autonomous driving. Volvo Cars is a
pioneer in car safety and is leading the way when it comes to
connected cars and autonomous driving. It has announced a programme
called Drive-Me in which 100 self-driving and connected cars will be
given to real customers on real roads around the Swedish city of
Gothenburg by 2017, the world's largest autonomous driving
experiment.

Other areas of cooperation are expected to include how information
gathered by cars and their drivers can be used to enhance the driving
experience and the possibility of using predictive analytics to
improve safety.

"We are extremely happy to innovate with Microsoft in the field of
future mobility," said Klas Bendrik, Senior Vice President and Chief
Information Officer at Volvo Cars. "Today's technology will allow us
to achieve not only a more sustainable and crash-free future but also
new benefits for our customers and society. Together with Microsoft
we aim to pioneer in this field."

Sascha Heiniger

sascha.heiniger@volvocars.com

Tel: +46-723-717961

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Video:

http://www.multivu.com/players/English/7668751-volvo-the-virtual-show
room/

ots Originaltext: Volvo Cars
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