Škoda Launches Mixed Reality App for New Models
Škoda has launched its Škoda Virtual Experience app for Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest mixed-reality headsets, allowing users to explore selected vehicles through virtual and augmented reality. The app currently features Elroq and Epiq, with Peaq expected to be added this autumn.
The app allows users to examine the vehicles without being physically present at a dealership. Škoda has developed the experience as an additional way for customers to view and interact with its models outside the physical showroom. The company said customer demand is increasingly focused on immersive, interactive experiences, with virtual environments considered more relevant to younger audiences.
The headset application allows the cars to be viewed in virtual or mixed reality. A headset’s camera can be used to place a digital vehicle in the user’s surroundings, such as a living room or garage. The vehicle is anchored in the environment at its actual size, while its digital appearance responds to the surrounding lighting conditions.
Users can walk around the digital car and examine it from different positions. They can open the doors, look into the boot and change elements of the vehicle’s configuration. Available configuration options include the exterior colour, wheel type and interior trim. The interior can also be explored virtually. This allows users to view the inside of a model even at the time of its world premiere.
The vehicles are rendered as photorealistic digital models with great visual detail. The experience is designed to show the vehicle as a digital representation within the user’s physical surroundings rather than as a conventional image or video.
After a model is selected, the app begins with a short introduction based on the vehicle’s marketing campaign. The Elroq introduction follows the style of the “Be More” campaign, while the Epiq uses the “Ooooh, that’s EpiQ!” campaign and its modelling-clay-car concept. The digital material first forms the silhouette of the selected vehicle, then transitions to its final photorealistic form. Users can then interact with and configure the model.
Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest headsets are not yet widely adopted, so Škoda is also working with partners in its dealer network to make the mixed-reality experience available to more customers. The planned dealership use would allow customers to view a digital vehicle at a dealership before the physical model reaches the showroom. The company identifies Luca Zicconi of Škoda’s Customer Experience department as a contributor to the initiative.
A smartphone provides another way to access the experience. Users can scan a QR code to enter the augmented-reality environment directly through their device. The smartphone option supports a wider range of models than the headset application. Alongside the Epiq and Peaq, users can explore digital versions of the Scala, Kamiq, Karoq, Octavia, Superb, Superb Combi, Kodiaq, Elroq, Enyaq RS and Enyaq Coupé RS.
The selected vehicle appears as a detailed three-dimensional model that can be viewed from both the outside and inside. The smartphone’s built-in camera places the digital car within the user’s surroundings. The scale can also be fine-tuned, allowing the Peaq SUV to appear as a small model on a living-room floor or in life-size form.
The smartphone experience can also be used to position the digital vehicle in front of the user’s house. This allows the model to be viewed within the surrounding physical environment through the phone’s camera.
