A surprise is when one of the carmakers lets the world in on its little secrets, by revealing the hows and whys behind the production process. One such carmaker is Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), which detailed what it calls the Virtual Garage during the British Science Festival in Birmingham.
The Virtual Garage is a GBP2.5 million ($3.9 million, EUR2.98 million) work of art, consisting of eight latest generation Sony 4K digital cinema projectors and 22 Sun Microsystems PC computers. Used for the testing and selection of interior and exterior design (colors, trims and perceived quality), the Virtual Garage is being controlled via a bespoke touchscreen interface, complete with a one-way secure link to the JLR network.
Being capable of previewing the entire manufacturing and assembly process of any given vehicle, the Virtual Garage is also planned as a small step towards what will become the future in automotive production.
“We are looking into research with various universities into touch, tactility and haptic response in the virtual world, which will improve our work on ergonomics,” Andy Richardson, manager of the Simulation Group was quoted as saying by carbodydesign.com.
“We also want to create a virtual factory so that the assembly process can be fully assessed for efficiency, ergonomics and warranty issues. We will be adding a virtual driving simulation, including human machine interface capability and the ability to produce HD realistic photography and film to support launch and marketing.”
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