A new app will let you scan your favourite roads to drive at home
Photo Porsche
The Virtual Roads project from Porsche aims to enable drivers to record their favourite routes to drive later using a simulator.
Porsche proposes that drivers would use their smartphone to capture the twists and turns of the world’s best Detours and then upload them to a sim game. The German legend has partnered with Way Ahead Technologies whose special software uses Artificial Intelligence to map the contours and corners of the road, the scenery and roadside furniture, and can even pick up potholes or surface changes.
Photo Porsche
“If you ask people what they think is the most beautiful road, everyone has their own, very personal route in mind. The characteristics of the topography are what make a route particularly attractive, regardless of whether it is a unique Alpine pass or a legendary coastal road,” says Robert Ader, Chief Marketing Officer at Porsche, whose department is responsible for the project. “We want to trigger these great memories with a much simpler digitalisation process that allows anyone to drive their favourite route virtually.”
The current tech allows around five miles of road to be digitised in an hour and the data files produced are compatible with several race sims including Assetto Corsa. Porsche hopes that “Drivers will be able to enjoy everything from an amazingly beautiful holiday trip along the US west coast to a spectacular ride around the track of the GP Ice Race in Zell am See.”
Porsche already has an app called Roads where users can record and share their favourite road trips with eachother, so the Virtual Roads is a logical next step, allowing drivers to explore all manner of fabulous drives no matter where in the world they live.