Startup's smart data solution revolutionises the automotive industry / smartphones, tablets and TV: cars can be configured anywhere and in real time / customer journey becomes a data journey / new software combines game engines with car data and intelligent analysis tools

Munich / Berlin / Frankfurt am Main, September 11, 2015. In future, the digitisation of the car for drivers will not just start with Bluetooth interfaces for the smartphone or with autonomous driving - but as early as the visualisation, configuration and virtual purchase process. At this year's IAA in Frankfurt, the Rocket Data Intelligence GmbH startup is presenting software for the first time which can generate virtual cars extremely rapidly and enable them to be experienced in 3D. Their Virtual Reality Content Machine (VRCM) takes CAD data and generates photo-realistic images and videos of vehicles. Customers can now generate their dream car at home with their smartphone, tablet or computer and configure it the way they want in a new dimension. Then gigantic Powerwalls or video glasses (Head Mounted Displays) allow them a submersive experience of their dream car at their dealer. With this new technology, car manufacturers can reduce the costs for visual content by around 50 per cent in comparison with traditional methods. The software also allows them real-time market research which can flow directly into product development and more efficient up-selling.

Kubilay Topal, CEO of Rocket Data Intelligence startup, puts on the Oculus data glasses. He can see the interior of an Audi RS7 in front of him - and so realistically that he could practically reach out to touch the gear stick or the steering wheel - but he cannot. Because his hands are holding an iPad running a configurator app allowing him to change the colour of the upholstery or the leather of the steering wheel. His colleague follows the entire process with 3D glasses which show a display the size of a shop window; the Powerwall. Topal takes off the data glasses. "We have not just succeeded in combining three industries: entertainment, automotive and Big Data. We have managed to digitise the photographer, camera man and lighting engineer. And we have distilled out the best settings, lighting setups and environments and added them scalably to a software package. Completely computer generated rendering in real time and this quality did not exist before in the automotive industry at this speed from CAD up to the completed visualisation. From now on the customer journey is a data journey. More than ever before, buyers' paths to their dream cars start on the internet", explains the 35-year-old.

Virtual Reality Content Machine (VRCM) at the core

The Virtual Reality Content Machine represents the core of this technology. This novel software does not use the CPU for the rendering of visualisations, but draws on GPU Accelerated Rendering. This means: images will no longer be calculated with the main processor of a computer, but with powerful graphics processors. "This method is not only much faster, but simple to implement, especially for dealers. As far as hardware is concerned, all that is needed to use the VRCM is a gaming PC", Topal explains. Besides the simple, computer based on-site variant, Rocket Data Intelligence also offers manufacturers the VRCM for global use from a GPU cloud, vertically scalable and centrally controlled.

And the new solution also provides entirely different benefits for the car manufacturer: data solutions also developed by Rocket Data Intelligence, which can be combined with the Virtual Reality Content Machine, automatically check the CAD vehicle data in advance for product correctness and for technical feasibility. In this way, they significantly reduce the lead time for the product visualisations. Together with the data which the new software extracts from customer behaviour during the configuration, the solutions supply information in real time which can be utilised in marketing and product development. This improves the efficiency and degree of automation in early stages of production.

Customer behaviour becomes still more predictable

This form of data acquisition and evaluation allows an early entry into the field of predictive analysis for forecasting customer behaviour. In combination with historical sales data, manufacturers could find out which equipment for which models was, and in future will be, in demand from which target groups - and also which are useful from the point of view of production and model planning for an efficient profit contribution strategy.

Together with other manufacturer information, car makers gain access to a novel form of intelligent data integration and processing (Data Intelligence). Topal continues: "With our solution, car manufacturers can see directly which customer groups prefer what. This allows them to suggest configurations a similar customer might like, and to display these products directly and as an exact fit - which is almost like "Amazon for the car industry".

Stand at New Mobility World

At the IAA, Rocket Data Intelligence presents its solutions in the framework of the New Mobility World in Hall 3.1. This new area at the fair covers all aspects of future mobility: on about 18,000 square metres of hall area, the latest innovations connected with the topic of automated driving, the connected car, electro-mobility and innovative urban traffic concepts. At Rocket Data Intelligence's trade fair stand (B23), visitors, both trade (from 17.09.2015) and general public (from 19.09.2015), can dive into the fascinating possibilities of virtual reality in connection with cars.

About Rocket Data Intelligence:
The Rocket Data Intelligence GmbH is the new innovation incubator for Smart Data and Data Intelligence. The company develops software solutions for the areas of Connected Retail and Digital Strategy for producers of products with a large number of derivatives - such as the car industry.

The Virtual Reality Content Machine (VRCM) is a new scalable media generation machine for car manufacturers produced by the 2015 Berlin startup. The GPU-based solution makes it possible for the first time to generate and to configure in real time photo-realistic media such as photos for the press, marketing or sales, and moving picture content such as virtual panning and detail views, right up to fully automatic car catalogues. With the VRCM, web configurators can be provided centrally with photos and other media from a GPU-based Cloud solution. What is more, the car dealer can also run the VRCM on a normal gaming PC. In this way, car dealers, TVs, tablets or smartphones become digital Connected Showrooms.

Manufacturers can also extend the VRCM with data solutions from Rocket Data Intelligence like AUTOCRAT and PARASIGHT. These reduce the data distribution effort for product visualisations by around 50 percent. The intelligent solutions allow sales professionals and product developers to access CAD data and product data directly in the field and engage in predictive analysis, the evaluation of data or prediction of customer behaviour. Together with other information, this opens up a novel form of intelligent data integration and processing (Data Intelligence or Smart Data). Moreover, the solutions reduce the complexity of the product to exactly what customers want.

In addition, Rocket Data Intelligence has developed a gateway to customer data by means of an app called 1%. For the first time, this app can maintain an orderly vehicle logbook via a Bluetooth interface (dongle), which is compatible with all popular accounting and book-keeping systems (such as Datev, etc.).

Press contact:
scrivo PublicRelations GbR
Contact: Franziska Kegel
Elvirastraße 4, Rgb.
D-80636 München

Tel: +49 89 45 23 508 12
Fax: +49 89 45 23 508 20
Email: Franziska.kegel@scrivo-pr.de
internet: www.scrivo-pr.de

Company contact

Rocket Data Intelligence GmbH
Contact: Kubilay Topal
Telephone: +49 178 778 4646
Internet: www.rocket-di.com (coming soon)