NEWS

"Connecting Digital + Reality"

Industrial XR / 3D Tech / Reality Capture / Digital Twin / AI / Spatial Computing / Connected Workforce

October 10, 2024: Issue 115

Ready to dive into the future? Get your Industrial IMMERSIVE 2025 all-access pass to four cutting-edge tech forums for the price of one! Snag Early Bird pricing now, or risk serious FOMO as 450+ leaders network, learn, and drive business next March 2025! In a recent whitepaper from the VR/AR Association, “The Power of Immersion,” XR is turning industrial training into a virtual thrill ride—where even seasoned pros are crushing it from their living rooms! Dig in! 👇

What’s Inside: 

• 🚀 VR/AR at Work: Level Up Your Productivity (No Joystick Required) 
• 📈 Rise of VR Across Industries 
• 💰 AI Case Studies: See How Energy Companies Are Transforming & Profiting 
• ✨ Industrial Reality Capture: Where Digital Meets Reality 
• 🦺 AI: Making Construction Safer (One Risk at a Time) 

WHAT'S BIG

VR and AR in the Workplace? It’s More Than Playing Video Games

(Image Credit: Theorem)

It’s time to trade in your game controller for a hard hat—because immersive technologies are getting serious, and industrial enterprises are leading the charge.

Thanks to the latest whitepaper from the VR/AR Association, “The Power of Immersion,” we’ve got all the details on how extended reality (XR) is revolutionizing the workplace.

What’s Inside?

• Training that doesn’t involve a snooze-fest: Forget classroom lectures that make your eyes glaze over. XR gives trainees hands-on experience in a safe, virtual world. No real-world danger. (And no one falling asleep during the PowerPoint presentation.)
• Safety like never before: Ever practiced operating heavy machinery or performing an emergency drill from your couch? Now you can. XR lets employees train for high-risk situations without actually being in one. Cue sigh of relief.
• Boosting efficiency: 75% less training time, 40% less rework, and workers that feel like rockstars. XR is the new secret sauce for operational excellence.

And if you think XR is just for the young folks, think again. Millennials and Gen Z might love their tech toys, but even the more... seasoned employees (yes, we’re looking at you, Boomers) are getting in on the action. After all, who doesn’t want to up their skills without leaving the safety of a virtual factory?

Read the recap and download “The Power of Immersion” whitepaper to see how ExxonMobil and Nestle Purina are already winning big with XR. 

Read the full VRARA whitepaper recap

WHAT'S UP

• Reality Remix: Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies are potential game changers for industries like healthcare, automotive, and more. Extended reality (XR), which encompasses the whole spectrum of reality technologies, is not just a small shift, it's a a sea change in how businesses create, design, and interact with their digital spaces.
  

• Crude Code Crunch: Artificial intelligence (AI) may not solve all the oil industry’s problems, but it can certainly enable transformation and contribute to the bottom line. When developed in line with company goals, AI technology can serve real business cases and has great potential, but bringing AI solutions into the oil patch requires overcoming certain challenges

SPONSORED BY: Us! Unleash the power of industrial reality capture! Attend the Industrial Reality Capture Forum, co-located with Industrial IMMERSIVE Week on March 3-4, 2025.  

Discover how reality capture is quickly transforming industries:

• Optimize operations, reduce costs, and enhance safety
• Accelerate innovation and drive sustainability
• Gain a competitive edge in the digital age

Connect, collaborate and create at the Industrial Reality Capture Forum! Shape the future of industrial reality capture! Secure your ticket now!

WHAT'S NEXT

• DroneDeploy has announced the launch of Safety AI, the only solution of its kind to automatically identify safety risks on construction sites using a combination of in-house developed proprietary AI and large multimodal models from Google and OpenAI.
• Microsoft has ended production of its HoloLens 2 headset. It’s not clear if we’ll ever see another HoloLens headset that will be available for businesses or even consumers to buy. Microsoft reportedly scrapped plans for a HoloLens 3 but then hinted that it would make a “meaningful update” to the hardware when the time was right.

• Get a behind-the-scenes look at how CHENEXT Technologies integrates P&IDs into their XR environment. Check out how simple it is to identify and navigate to components like valves within their immersive model. 

WHAT'S THE DEAL

• Uptale, a leading provider of immersive training solutions, recently announced a strategic partnership with Hololight, a pioneer in immersive streaming technology. 
• Interplay Learning announced a new capital investment from Goldman Sachs Alternatives to scale its training solutions to new clients in the enterprise marketplace and "build better careers and better lives". 
• GameDriver Inc. and Perform have recently announced a strategic partnership aimed at enhancing the development cycle for developers and enterprises. 

WHAT ELSE

(Image Credit: Teslarati)

Uber announced it will now let riders choose to only ride in EVs through a new all-electric version of its Uber Green platform, which has previously included hybrid options. It will also roll out a feature that lets users set an EV as their preference when there's only a few minutes difference in terms of ETA compared to a standard UberX, while using gas-powered vehicles if the wait time is longer.

"After launching Uber Green with hybrids and EVs around the world, we now have enough EV drivers on our platform to make it an EV-only option in 40+ cities globally," said Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. "Riders will be able to choose an EV for about the same price as UberX."

To encourage more drivers to switch to an EV, Uber will also launch an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant early next year in the U.S. that can answer questions drivers may have about purchasing an EV – including recommendations, as well as information about range and charging.

"Going electric is a big decision, and drivers have lots of questions. That's why we're announcing an AI assistant in the driver app – powered by OpenAI's GPT-4o – to help drivers get answers to every EV question under the sun," Khosrowshahi explained. Learn more. -->  (h/t Fox Business)

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