Kinect controls new car buying experience

Car manufacturers are adopting Microsoft’s Kinect motion controller system as a way to put potential customers “into the driver’s seat in more immersive ways than have been previously possible” – even if the vehicle isn’t ready for sale yet.

Ford, Audi and Nissan have all begun using the system, with the new Nissan Pathfinder SUV being the latest to benefit from this kind of application.

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Kinect for Windows uses a camera, body tracking and audio input to allow a virtual environment to be controlled by natural movements and speech.

Described as “a game changer” by the vice president for marketing at Nissan North America, John Brancheau, it means buyers can manipulate a digital rendering of a car exactly as they want.

This in turn is intended to enable them to get a greater feel for whether the vehicle would suit them or not. For more technical info on how it all works, click here to go to the Kinect for Windows blog.

Having proven particularly useful at recent American Motor Shows as a method of demonstrating the 2013 Pathfinder before it was even available to display, the same application is now being rolled out across Nissan dealerships in the US.

This is nothing compared to the recently opened Audi City in London, however, which is a totally virtual dealership that employs Kinect – and other digital technologies such as Microsoft Surface tablets – in a much more extensive fashion.

There are no real cars at Audi City at all. You can read MSN Cars’ previous feature about the digital dealer by clicking here.

Is this how all car-buying experiences should be in the future – what do you think?

On Bing: see images of the 2013 Nissan Pathfinder

Find out how much a used Nissan Pathfinder costs on Auto Trader

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