The RideA VR Cinema on wheels

The Ride is a spectacular bus tour through New York City incorporating a VR experience. Passengers are driven across the most historical places of the city that never sleeps. The high-tech bus is using state-of-the-art audio-visual technology, including 40 plasma screens, 3000 led lights and a unique VR component. Digital media is combined with live – real-life – acts on the streets.

There were two major challenges according to the The Ride team. The first was getting all 50 headsets to play the same content at the same time, with just the bus driver behind the wheel. The second was achieving this while the bus toured across New York. They team had tried numerous solutions before but none of them provided problem free playback.

All the content is preloaded on the devices (all in one headset, nibiru) so no streaming is necessary. This means that video’s don’t have to buffer which results in less latency and smoother playback.  No streaming also means less battery usage during the tour itself.

Installing the VR Sync installation on the bus went flawlessly. According to Brandon Bekowies, the CTO of The Ride ‘ the one piece that just immediately worked was the piece that we thought would be the hardest: the VR system’.

Our VR Sync box was also installed in the bus. This enables playback without the need for an internet connection. The VR Sync box is dedicated for the playback of the VR content. This causes less latency and a generally more stable operation. Thanks to the remote the tour operator could easily start playback of the different VR segments. Using VR Sync it’s now possible for the company to use VR Sync on any location.  Making it the first truly mobile VR Experience.

The addition of the VR Experience to The Downtown Experience makes it one of the most innovative tourist attractions in New York. The tour is fully booked three times a day.The team of The Ride is extremely happy with VR Sync and the support throughout this challenges process.

The feedback from Brendon really says it all: ‘I can’t say enough nice things about the product, and equally important to us, the quality of support we have received for the VR Owl team every step of the way.