Microsoft’s HoloLens headset has been slowly pivoting towards commercial markets over the past year. NASA, Volvo, Lowe’s, Audi, and Volkswagen are all testing HoloLens for various reasons, and now Ford is expanding its use of Microsoft’s headsets after an initial pilot phase. Ford is using HoloLens to let designers quickly model out changes to cars, trucks, and SUVs. This allows designers to see the changes on top of an existing physical vehicle, instead of the traditional clay model approach to car design.
Ford is still using clay models, but the HoloLens can be used to augment additional 3D models without having to build every single design prototype with clay. It’s one of the more interesting ways we’ve seen businesses use Microsoft’s HoloLens, and it’s something customers will never see. A number of other companies are also using HoloLens for training purposes, much like how VR is used in the same way by businesses.
Microsoft is planning to hold a Windows Mixed Reality launch event on October 3rd in San Francisco. We’re not expecting to hear about a HoloLens successor, but we should get a better idea of what apps and games we’ll see coming for Microsoft’s Windows Mixed Reality headsets. Dell, Acer, HP, Lenovo, and Asus are all creating headsets, with the cheapest starting at $299. Mixed Reality headsets will be available from October 17th, the same day Microsoft launches its Windows 10 Fall Creators Update with Mixed Reality support.
