Why Hollywood Could Make Billions From Self-Driving Cars
The Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury in Motion.
"Our mobile lifestyle is expanding into cars — that is the next journey for entertainment. Hollywood is an important part of that discussion," says Ted Schilowitz, futurist at Paramount Pictures. He points out that while passengers will continue to use personal mobile devices, a self-driving car could deliver a more sophisticated offering of movies, TV and games as well as emerging platforms such as virtual, augmented and mixed reality. In a driverless car, "there's a lot of real estate," says Schilowitz. "If you look at the windshield and windows, they are 'screens' at the right distance to be entertainment portals. Can the windshield be the movie screen of tomorrow?"
The broadcast industry is positioning itself for this scenario: Its next-gen broadcast standard (known as ATSC 3.0) brings together internet and live over-the-air signals with mobility for delivering video-on-demand content, Ultra HD (4K resolution) and High Dynamic Range TV. "In cars, that might mean riders view network or new types of programming," says ATSC spokesman Dave Arland. "Broadcasters are interested in conversations with automakers. ATSC 3.0 is a very big [content] pipe into the car."
"Artificial intelligence will be permeating every aspect, from monitoring what's going on outside the vehicle — making sure the road is clear and safe — to a robust in-car AI system that recognizes who is in the car via facial recognition," says Danny Shapiro, senior director of automotive at tech developer NVIDIA. "The content personalization possibilities are endless and will be based on a voice-activated and gesture-based system. The telcos, content providers, game developers and e-commerce companies will be transacting business within the car. We'll also see new types of interfaces — we can even turn the whole interior of the car into a holodeck."
See the full story here: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/why-driving-cars-could-be-hollywoods-next-big-thing-1031554