Last week Ford held their Future with Ford Innovation Forum where industry leaders and innovators sought to highlight emerging trends and future technologies of drive innovation and next-gen vehicle development. Following that, Ford has announced they are exploring the potential of implementing augmented and virtual reality in their marketing and shopping processes.
These new digital interactions could allow the convenient access to the brands product line within the next decade. To begin this process, Melbourne is now home to a state-of-the-art facility where designers experience, engineer and craft a vehicle without the need for a physical prototype. Located in Ford’s Asia Pacific Product Development Centre, it is known as the Ford immersive Virtual Environment (FiVE) lab.
Once the experience is completely rolled out, Ford hopes a purely emotional connection will develop from the comfort of home between the customer and the car model even before the first dealership visit. The company hopes a vast array of simulated landscapes, from desert drives to city landscapes will enable a whole new dimension to the idea of sampling, and eventually purchasing.
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