A Virtual Tour of Chrysler's Factory with W+K's Oculus Rift Experience

As the highly anticipated, all-new 2015 Chrysler 200 continues to arrive at dealerships across the country, the Chrysler brand is pushing the boundaries of virtual reality to deliver a one-of-a-kind interactive experience. Launching this week at the Los Angeles Auto Show, “Beneath the Surface” is a four-minute, 4D-immersive experience using the Oculus Rift DK2 headset to highlight how the vehicle is made.

This past September, the Chrysler brand launched the Chrysler 200 Factory Tour, a first-of-its-kind interactive experience that allowed consumers to journey inside the 5-million-square-foot Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP), which builds the 2015 Chrysler 200. The “Beneath the Surface” experience puts consumers at the very center of it all — inside the all-new Chrysler 200 for a 4D look at how it is built as if inside the vehicle during the factory processes. The experience highlights some of the auto features that consumers don’t get to see on the showroom floor.

Oculus Rift DK2 is the latest development kit and headset for exploring what we can do in the virtual reality world. In Chrysler’s “Beneath the Surface,” consumers attending the Los Angeles Auto Show can take a seat in a Chrysler 200 on the auto show floor. Once the Oculus Rift DK2 headset is on, the experience comes to life with the help of a seat rumble pack and sound system that combines music, voiceover instructions and spatial sound effects.

The scene opens with a life-like rendering of the Chrysler 200 interior and explodes to show the beautiful anatomy of the car while the user has a few moments to look around from the driver’s seat. Interactivity with the car is done in real-time by using the headset. With the user viewing the experience from inside the 200, the audio-visual tour highlights three aspects of the building process within the plant, including:

- The Body Shop – More than 1,000 robots work to build one automobile. In this experience, 18 state-of-the-art framing robots weld the strong frame of the car together.

- The Paint Shop – One of the most energy-efficient and advanced paint shops yet gives the Chrysler 200 its color as well as even more durability and protection. Here users watch how the car is prepped for its paint job with the help of ostrich feathers.

- The Metrology Center – A team of engineers and skilled tradesmen within the facility check and measure every last micron of the car to ensure the vehicle’s fit and finish. In this experience, every panel is aligned with precision.

The “Beneath the Surface” virtual reality experience was created in partnership with independent advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy Portland and development partners Stopp and MPC Creative.