VW Group – Virtual World for Seating Buck Experiences
Immersive 3D virtual environments for automotive seating experience prototyping. Seamlessly integrated hardware systems with real-time visualization to revolutionize how automotive interiors are designed and tested.
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Project Overview
The Challenge
Traditional automotive seating design relied on physical prototypes that were expensive and time-consuming to modify. VW Group needed a way to rapidly iterate on seating configurations while maintaining the tactile experience crucial for proper ergonomic evaluation.
The solution required seamless integration between virtual visualization and physical seating bucks, enabling designers to experience changes in real-time while maintaining authentic haptic feedback and low cost "in-car" user testing.
The Innovation
I was part of 5 people developing team which developed the hardware, software and companion applications for testing low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototypes in seating buck. Designers could bring there Figma, HTML/Javascript or even powerpoint prototypes and plug them into interactive experience.
The system was focused on facilitate design studies with Node-RED (no-code node based environment) where designs can interact with the virtual world and the user physical presence. For example steering wheel feedback, seat detection, speedometer, door and lights system etc, among others.
My Contribution
I owned the core systems that connected the virtual environment with the physical seating bucks and shaped the delivery process end‑to‑end — from architecture and safety to tooling and stakeholder reviews.
- C# Virtual Environments
- Refactor and further develop the dynamic system, web rendering and overall application source code.
- JS Research tools
- Develop custom nodes in Node-RED (javascript), such as GPS from virtual to real world maps by Mapbox.
- Improving Rendering
- VR optimisation, increasing the FPS from 30 to 90 for 4k rendering (Varjo headsets), while increasing visual fidelity.
- Unix scripting
- Being responsible for internal servers of the seating buck, working with sensors and interactive LED lights amoung others.
- VR & Reviews
- HMD support and multi‑user collaboration sessions for stakeholder evaluation.
- Delivery & Training
- Delivered and trained colleagues in Wolfsburg and Beijing to work with the system.
Technical Architecture
Real-time Unity 3D environment
Digital 3D scan of Wolfsburg with 1cm precision and active (virtual) GPS navigation.
Hardware Control System
Low-latency communication with motorized seating platforms and sensors with MQTT.
VR Integration
Head-mounted display support for immersive design review sessions with possability to test 'non-existing' screen sizes.
Data Analytics
Comprehensive usage tracking and analysis reporting for interaction, car data and user focus.
Results & Impact
From Wolfsburg and Ingolstadt to Beijing and Silicon Valley.
Refactoring, Optimisation and versioning of more than 1M lines of code, across 5 repos.
Across VW Group brands and locations.