Intel to Plaster Self-Driving Car Dashboards with Ads

Self-driving cars are sure to leave former drivers – now passengers – twiddling their thumbs. In-car entertainment for passengers will, no doubt, become intrinsic, especially during long journeys. However, with entertainment – TV, film, and music – comes the inevitable adverts. It seems, though, that – if Intel gets its way – those adverts won’t be confined to your in-car TV screen. Instead, your whole dashboard will become a glorified advertising hoarding. And the delivery platform won’t just be confined to the dashboard: expect translucent content on your windscreen and windows, too. At least, that’s what Intel is proposing as part of its new partnership with Warner Bros..

In addition, Intel foresees a future of augmented reality (AR) “in-cabin immersive experiences”. Do you want an amateur-looking Batman theme? Good news: Intel’s on it. Yep, the image above is not something we threw together on Photoshop in a couple of minutes; it is, in fact, official Intel concept art. The same technology will also deliver “advertising and other discovery experiences”.

Plastering Self-Driving Car Dashboards with Ads

In the age of flatscreen TVs, monitors, smartphones, and tablets, do we really need another screen in our cars to gawp at, especially one that will force-feed yet more commercials down our eyeholes? Regardless, that’s what we’re getting, at least from Intel. Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel, says:

“The rise of the AV industry will create one of the greatest expansions of consumer time available for entertainment we’ve seen in a long time. As passengers shift from being drivers to riders, their connected-device time, including video-viewing time, will increase. In fact, recent transportation surveys indicate the average American spends more than 300 hours per year behind the wheel.

With this expansion of available time, Warner Bros. and Intel imagine significant possibilities inside the AV space. Not only do we see passengers consuming content ranging from movies and television programming, we imagine riders enjoying immersive experiences never seen before, courtesy of in-cabin virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) innovations. For example, a fan of the superhero Batman could enjoy riding in the Batmobile through the streets of Gotham City, while AR capabilities render the car a literal lens to the outside world, enabling passengers to view advertising and other discovery experiences.”