Real-time technology has become a cornerstone of manufacturing—especially for automotive creative pipelines. With the metaverse and even omniverse on everybody’s lips, the demand for game engines is growing, and adoption is accelerating. Beyond the software and programmes that will play an increasingly central role in next-generation vehicles, real-time technology can transform traditional automotive processes, create new avenues for creative coding and design, and streamline manufacturing workflows.
Engineers are collaborating using real-time technology like virtual reality (VR) to create and review new vehicle designs. R&D teams are conducting autonomous driving research in game engine-driven simulators, and game engines have made their way into production human-machine interfaces (HMIs). AAA game maker Epic Games’ Unreal Engine is used across many industries outside of video games, including human sciences, architecture, training, and Hollywood, to provide hyper-realistic, high-quality graphics—and it's these graphics that could change the face of HMIs.
In July 2022, Epic Games announced it would partner with Volvo Cars to develop HMIs for its vehicles. In December that year, the company's Director of Automotive, Heiko Wenczel expressed interest in extending it to the trucking sector. Now, Wenczel tells Automotive World of the opportunities, challenges, and prospects of implementing this technology in commercial vehicles (CVs) in the years to come.
