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Show HN: Drivr – VR with real vehicles [video] (youtube.com)

94 points by greghgradwell ↗ HN
This project combines VR with a real vehicle that you are controlling (or is controlling itself, in some scenarios). One advantage this has over traditional VR motion experiences is that your senses all agree with each other, thus greatly reducing the likelihood of motion sickness.

The go-kart seen in this video is drive-by-wire and steer-by-wire, so the system will not let the player exit the defined safe area. If a player goes off course, the vehicle will take control, and return them to the start. The autonomous capabilities also allow for games where the player can focus on other objectives other than driving, such as target shooting.

No infrastructure is required other than the vehicle and an open place to drive (which honestly has been the most challenging part lately).

If you're interested in this project, I'd love to connect!

33 comments

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mdrzn
Whoa this looks very cool! Instead of a standard go kart race, this would be 10x better if all partecipants had a Quest 3 on and we could "fight" to win.

Great project, keep it up.

greghgradwell
Thanks! Yeah, for sure. It makes the absolute speed of the vehicle less important too, which is great for safety. If you have other objectives besides just crossing the finish line, you're not worried about how fast you're going. In fact, in some cases, you wish you could go more slowly.
localfirst
car needs to go a lot fast-just kidding!

this is very creative the pros from this vs a 6DOF simulator is :

- REAL terrain feedback

- REAL winds blowing in your face

- REAL feeling of being outside.

- Imagine a real life mirio cart

All we need is a AR version of this and we can gamify traffic irl (for example yielding earns you bonus points, shoulder checking increases your rep points)

pwillia7
You know I'm going to get the Shuto Expressway version
swozey
This looks fun. You mentioned the area in relation to dbw and sbw so did you program specific coordinates or are you geofencing?

For anyone who doesn't have a gokart and a runway and love cars I just got into the real sim racing with force feedback wheel + 8spd + clutch + ebrake and it is *so* much more realistic than I ever expected. I never understood how racing sims were so popular because I had only ever played them with a controller and I didn't know force feedback was anywhere near what it's actually like on a good wheel. My wheel can violently rip out of my hands in a crash and at only 8nm power which is nowhere near the top end wheels. About a $1k investment.

It is a completely different ballgame using a direct drive FFB setup like a Fanatec, etc. Driving a 1000whp Supra on Shuto Highway in Tokyo is so cool.

https://youtu.be/Nd5OI_iEPz0?t=372

greghgradwell
There are boundaries in the game that will trigger a return to start, which just computes a new path from the current location back to the level's starting location. The game coordinates are all referenced from a real origin latitude/longitude/rotation, which can be set at any time with the push of a button.

That video is rad! I had a wheel/pedals/6spd setup in college, and that made driving games so much fun.

ok_dad
Agreed, sim racing is a great hobby, especially if you can’t afford a race car or don’t live near a track. In doing a six hour classic endurance race in (digital) Sicily this weekend with 24 other teams and I don’t even need a passport!

If I had a go kart and runway I would be out there myself, though, not driving it from my office!

holoduke
In the future its always day and summer. Our AR glasses will have enhancement plugins you can purchase from weseeyou.com. the night to day converter plugin, the summer plugin, the everybody is naked plugin, the rain isnt there plugin and and many more.
hnlmorg
“Spring morning is available as a DLC for 20000 vrbucks”
bsimpson
That's badass! I absolutely wanna ride in one!

And also, being a motorcyclist has really raised my awareness about road awareness. Even if the system works perfectly, making sure that the whole ridable surface is safe and free of hazards feels like a big lift in a real world setting. If there was a nail or pothole or oil spill in a normal go kart, the rider has the potential to notice it and ride around. With a headset on, they're really trusting the operator to do good maintenance on the playfield.

A go kart has 4 points of contact, a low center of gravity, and a limited top speed. Those are all good factors to limit catastrophic crashes. But also, imagining a rink run by high school kids where nobody can actually see where they're going gives me some pause, even if this looks super cool and I want to do it.

greghgradwell
That's a great point. I'm starting out with experiences that are intended for low speeds. In the video, the vehicle is never going more than 5 mph. I think there's a lot of ways to make things interesting, e.g. adding additional tasks, without having to go much faster.

In regards to multiple vehicles, you're absolutely right. At the current state, this is limited to one player per driving area. But the fact that the vehicle is software controlled, will allow multiple vehicles to eventually drive on the same track.

pwillia7
144hz track/ground pass thru with an overlay if you need it purple or something
AuryGlenz
Someone I knew in high school was working at the local tiny amusement “park” and had to go find someone’s finger after their go-kart hit another and he for some reason didn’t have his hands on the wheel.

I don’t know if I could enjoy doing something like that in full VR. It would freak me out too much.

pawelduda
Not gonna lie, this is a nice idea. But I suspect past the wow factor I wouldn't want to drive like this too much. Probably the biggest advantage here is the lack of motion sickness for those who get it. The graphics would make me feel like I'm missing out wearing VR headset instead of seeing the actual "outside". Pretty sure I'd prefer Gran Turismo 7 on VR with a steering wheel. When I drive into a dark tunnel, it really gives me the "entering smaller space" feeling, and so on
athilenius
I got to try this thing out a few weeks ago! I've spent a lot of time in VR, and I've driven karts before, so I thought I had an idea of what it would be like when you put the two together. I did not, it blew my mind. Having the correct physical forces coupled with VR was incredibly immersive. I chatted with Greg about future ideas as well, and a drive-by-wire kart with VR opens some really mind bending possibilities that I'm so stoked to get to try as this develops. MARIO KART DRIFTING IRL, HERE I COME.
Tepix
Very cool! The graphics are underwhelming but i bet the immersion is sublime!

Have you tried the analogue of "redirected walking"? I.e. the cart goes a partial circle but the user sees a full circle in VR?

greghgradwell
Haha, yes, the graphics are definitely not going to win any awards. This is a standalone app on the headset, and I wanted to ensure a smooth frate rate. Plus, I think it's easier for someone with very little game dev experience (me) to create a highly immersive environment using low-poly assets.

I've been impressed with techniques like redirected walking. People are so clever! For this application, I think it would present some challenges when trying to add a second player, in terms of ensuring they don't collide in real life. However I can scale the players perceived speed with a simple multiplier, e.g., have them move 2 meters in the game for every 1 meter they move in real life.

wooyakob
Nice work Greg! So this is why you can never make it to Pickleball/Padel? Cool excuse.

Gran Turismo and Mario Kart were my favourite examples of fun and engaging virtual driving experiences. A long time ago, I had the wheel, pedals and vibrating seat for GT3 and even that created another level of immersion.

Aside from an open place to drive (it's a drive but there is good vacant expanses close to res land), what other challenges are you facing? And, what's the vision?

greghgradwell
Ha! That, and you beat me every time we play.

Finding an open place to drive could be less challenging if the go-kart had a better turning radius, so I could make the driving area a bit narrower. In that case, there would lots of parking lots where this would work, at least for the purpose of showing someone who wanted to try it. I've taken the current prototype as far as it should go. The architecture is really only suited for single player experiences. I wanted get to a point where I had convinced myself that the concept was feasible and fun, and I've done that. The ultimate goal of this project is to build a product that can function as an autonomous vehicle development platform. To get to there, I'll need to work with people who have built large multiplayer games and autonomous systems. So I'm done with the engineering for now until I've got a small team.

thegandhi
Very cool. Can this be calibrated to an existing track? I wonder in case of spin outs how would someone get back on track. Either way very cool demo
greghgradwell
In its current state, it's actually more challenging if a real track already exists. Years down the road I would love to be capable of perceiving a real track and generating a virtual version of it on the fly. But this will always be a VR experience, rather than AR. And the go-kart is moving slowly enough that spinouts aren't an issue. However, given the right vehicle design, I'm sure that they could be intentionally conducted in a controlled manner. Being able to simulate drifting is definitely on the list for the next vehicle iteration.
creativenolo
The video has a slowness about it (pushing myself to be critical here because it’s all amazing). It would be interesting to pair the VR experience with some fast moving virtual content. Like flocks of birds shooting past. Or projectiles.
greghgradwell
Yeah, great idea! I think there should be some simple ways to increase the perceived speed. Either with other moving objects like you mention, or by altering the environment, e.g. with fog, tunnels, overhangs, etc. Even at its current leisurely pace, the game is still fun (and even hectic at times), which is encouraging for what it might become after some of these enhancements can be implemented.
Aspos
This could be a great way of building a World of Tanks themed park. Especially if you combine players from multiple physical locations into a single virtual space.
Animats
Well, that's one way to synchronize the user's perception of motion with what they see in the VR goggles.

"The Void" VR [1] had the best walk-around VR system back in 2018, with some elaborate Star Wars experiences, but it looks like the company is dormant now. The user had to wear a backpack to carry all the compute hardware and batteries. At least in a vehicle mounted system you don't have to lug all the gear around yourself.

[1] https://www.thevoid.com/

kristopolous
I viscerally hate it but I honestly don't know why. I'm saying this in good faith.

Really clueless why

greghgradwell
You should sign up for updates at www.trydrivr.com and if we come demo nearby, you can hate it in person :D