Nissan is committed to the Nissan Intelligent Mobility vision—redefining how cars are driven, powered, and integrated into society. This vision informs the company's belief that the most exciting technology you own is right in your driveway. It's a sound philosophy, but to share it with the world, we have to tell the right story in the right way.
When Nissan asked us to help them communicate the benefits of Nissan Intelligent Mobility technologies for the Altima (rear automatic breaking, proPILOT assist, blind spot warnings, and automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection) we looked for a way to put people in the middle of the action without any real threat of danger. The result was Tech Drive VR—a way for people to understand and connect with the Altima's advanced technologies.
Have you ever taken a test drive where you almost hit a pedestrian? Sideswiped the car next to you on the freeway? Or had to thread the needle between two semis? Probably not, one hopes. But that also means you never really get to put protective technology through its paces. With Tech Drive VR, Nissan allows you to experience how it feels when technology saves the day. By using a 360˚, virtual reality experience, we put technology to the test in ways no test drive ever has. The 360˚ experience puts you in the virtual driver's seat to test the car's capabilities and test drive what you couldn't in real life. This first-person perspective means that users not only see and hear dangerous close calls, but actually feel them.
Using the latest custom-built 360˚ camera rig, we're dropping people right into the action—behind the wheel and on the street—to give users a genuine, interactive feel for how the Altima's safety features work. The use of VR in Oculus Go headsets allows us to put people in risky driving situations that feel authentic. To enhance authenticity, Tech Drive is shot live, in a real car, on real streets, with threats as close as they would be in real life.
Tech Drive VR has been accessible on VR headsets at over 300 Nissan dealerships and events as well as on Microsoft Xboxes. It's an industry-first React360 beta that put the 360˚ test drive right in your Facebook feed and other social media platforms. In its first 30 days, Tech Drive VR reached 100 million video impressions, with thousands of virtual test drives taken around the world.
