Toyota Australia Employs Xbox Kinect to Demonstrate New Vehicle to Dealers

Toyota Australia reportedly is one of the first auto makers in the world to use an interactive presentation powered by a Microsoft Xbox Kinect to show a new vehicle to dealers.

The Australian newspaper says Toyota was looking to demonstrate the capabilities of its 4-wheel-drive FJ months before an actual model reached the local market and opted for the virtual-reality demonstrator that allows dealers to zoom around the cross/utility vehicle using the Xbox Kinect gaming controller.

Sydney-based transmedia-production company The Project Factory created the demonstration unit for Toyota, linking the virtual reality controller to a PC, allowing users to manipulate a 3-dimensional model of the new vehicle.

The Project Factory’s website describes the firm as “a creative production company that has partnerships with some of Australia’s leading television and film producers to create interactive versions of TV shows and films to reach an online and mobile audience.”

The newspaper says Toyota Australia has been using the modified Xbox Kinect unit to demonstrate the model to dealers nationally in the last few weeks.

The system allows dealers to “explode” the car and look at individual elements, change colors and examine technological specifications. It also makes possible direct input of complex engineering and computer-design data.

The Project Factory’s top executive Guy Gadney tells the newspaper he believes Toyota’s is the first commercial exploitation of a Kinect controller for a major corporation.

“This really is the “Minority Report” come to life,” Gadney is quoted as saying. The 2002 Steven Spielberg movie features Tom Cruise manipulating digital images with the flick of a hand.

Dealers can zoom around Toyota FJ using virtual reality.

Toyota reportedly does not plan to use the system with consumers, but Gadney says the trial shows the concept works and could be employed in many fields.

The Kinect controller, launched last October, has gone into the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest-selling consumer electronics device in history, with more than 10 million units sold through March.