Brussels, Europe Brief News –Volvo will use Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. Swedish carmaker will cooperate with Fortnite inventor to provide “photorealistic imagery” to electric cars.
Volvo and Epic will focus on the “human-machine interface” (HMI), or how automobile owners interact with their vehicle’s software. Volvo said Epic would help establish a foundation on which its engineers can enhance the HMI while ensuring safety. Let’s review all there is to know about Electric Cars!
New Electric Cars Released by Volvo
“This technology allows us to build responsive, high-quality images that we can layer with information and make realistic as needed,” said Volvo Cars’ head of user experience, Thomas Stovicek. “We’re designing the next-generation HMI for our clients.”
Safety will be a priority, added Stovicek. Today’s announcement is aimed to highlight the company’s safety and whimsical designs. Volvo aims to employ the Unreal Engine to depict the vehicle’s exterior sensors, including camera, radar, and eventually, lidar, view without being “overpowering,” he added.
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Stovicek claimed the cooperation with Epic Gamers would enhance navigation, battery life, light, color, and motion graphics.
Epic’s Unreal Engine initially appeared in the 1998 first-person shooter Unreal. Since then, it’s been employed in many gaming genres and other industries, including cinema and television.
Epic Games likes the auto business because automobiles are simpler to represent realistically than people. (This reflects the popularity of racing games.) Epic recently claimed it would deliver HMI software for the 2022 Hummer EV pickup vehicle.
Epic’s interest in cars has grown. Modern automobiles are constructed with software and include onboard computers with touchscreens and digital interfaces to power infotainment systems.
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Why not put Unreal Engine, a powerful software-building platform, in cars?
“With the new technology coming into automobiles, it became really interesting to think of the car as an extra platform that we should recognize,” said Heiko Wenzel, Epic Games’ Detroit lab director.
Volvo and Epic won’t specify which cars will be the first to contain Unreal Engine software or when they will be added to the rest of the Volvo fleet.
Volvo intends to sell 600,000 EVs by 2020 and establish a battery plant in Europe by 2026. The business collaborates with Swedish partner Northvolt on a new generation of high-energy-density batteries for car integration. After 2025, new batteries will provide greater driving ranges (up to 625 miles) and quicker recharge times.
Volvo is bringing software development in-house to speed up fleet upgrades and fix issues. VolvoCars.OS will power the next generation of electric cars and allow unsupervised highway driving.
The new OS will be an “umbrella” for Android Automotive OS, Blackberry’s QNX, Linux, and AUTOSAR. The company’s new design will utilize two Nvidia SoCs. One will concentrate on driving duties and the other on semi-autonomous and sophisticated features. Volvo intends to combine the two computers for more efficient processing.
The Takeaway!
Volvo wants Epic Games’ aid in updating its next-generation automobiles while conceding feature overkill. Sharper representations, richer colors, and more 3D animations are coming. Distractions won’t be included.
Under the “roof” of Volvo Electric Cars, it is well-known that Volvo plans to expedite software development on its own. Stovicek: “Nothing’s off the table.” “But it’s vital that we introduce it at the correct moment, so we don’t distract the driver in the wrong manner.”
