Jaguar and Land Rover plans a new design facility with advanced audio visual technologies with the projection power of eight cinemas to significantly speed up product development.
About $4m is to be invested in a so-called virtual reality centre which will allow engineers and designers to see in life-size three-dimension models of vehicles and components, reducing the need for physical prototypes.
The four-walled ‘cave’ will provide a virtual reality environment simulating vehicle exteriors and interiors that is capable of making bodywork appear transparent.
According to the brands’ product development chief Al Kammerer, the project will allow faster development of new vehicles and quicker response to customer trends.
Eight Sony high resolution projectors will provide a visual quality claimed to outstrip existing industry virtual reality caves by producing photo realistic images. The user wears 3D glasses to view ultra-high resolution images.

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By GlobalDataMidlands-based HoloVis International is leading the project with Sony, Sun Microsystems and ICIDO.
It will be in use at Jaguar and Land Rover’s Gaydon engineering centre by spring 2008.